


abusus non tollit usum

by blue_wind_gets_so_sad



Category: Newsies - All Media Types, Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F, Gen, Homophobia, M/M, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Racism, Swearing, Trans Jack, Trans Jack Kelly, Trans davey, Transphobia, a lot of the t slur, albert is a bit punk, all hail albert's white hoodie, based on real experiences, bigender buttons, bless hot shot, buttons distracts himself by watching cats, buttons is too, buttons isn't happy with davey's old friends, buttons takes over the radio of any car he jumps into, davey is a morning person, davey just wanted to get to class, davey's car is the squad-mobile, demiboy albert, did i mention i love echo, do whatever you want with that information, echo and smalls are just alike no matter what they say, echo does acrobatics as a hobby, echo's real name is daniel, elmer is a math whiz as always, elmer is adorable you guys, everyone loves medda why wouldn't they, extra extra hot shot cares too, gay race, genderfluid elmer, grey-ace gay davey, grey-ace gay david jacobs, he also watches sound of music when he's upset, hot shot doesn't talk much, hot shot is going to become a bigger character i swear, how many tags can i add before it cuts me off???, i literally combined hearst and pulitzer to get the school name, i live for my three punk babies, i love my boy echo y'all, i want to punch morris and oscar, i want to sock pulitzer in the mouth, i'm sorry davey, if anyone catches the grease reference in chapter 3 i will love you forever, im so original, im sorry race, jack calls her ma, jack hates spot's truck, jack is me bye guys, jack sees through davey's bullshit, jack would do the same, jojo is a hopeful lil dood, katherine drives a yellow beetle fight me, katherine is a theatre nerd, katherine will whack you if you don't shut the fuck up, kid blink knows his shit, les and medda could sit there and do nothing but tease jack and davey, les is a legend i love him, medda is pride mom #1, medda knows how to take care of her kids, medda loves embarrassing jack, medda will beat pulitzer's ass with her words if you let her, mush is a smartass, never let crutchie near the glitter, no one else is, nonbinary finch, nonbinary hot shot, nonbinary ike, nonbinary mush, once again buttons loves cats, punk race is good race, race doesn't have free time bc he sucks dick but you didn't hear that from me, race doesn't sugarcoat anything, race eats s'mores when he's upset, race has a tongue piercing, race is the strange mixture of punk and theatre nerd that i am, romeo is too obviously, smalls calls him danny, smalls is a fiery ball of opinions, sniper will fuck you up, so is race but we already knew that, someone bleach blink's memory, someone get davey a map, someone show spot some love, someone stop race, specs and tommy boy are the group's medics, spot and jack are adoptive brothers, spot calls her mama medda, spot hates being called spottie, spot would definitely leave school without jack, that kid loves cats, the boy has some long legs so he needs leg room, the classes mentioned in this are legit classes from a school i wanted to get into, the musical not actual cats, they all make the school newspaper, they love each other i swear, they'll all soak a transphobe the first chance they get, they're all so protective over each other, tommy boy has his shirt on, trans tommy boy, transgirl sniper, we must protect the theatre children, wiesel is the school nurse asdfghjkl, y'all i hate myself for doing this to my boy race, you don't see it just yet but oh boy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-02
Updated: 2018-11-19
Packaged: 2019-07-05 18:19:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 45,121
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15869148
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blue_wind_gets_so_sad/pseuds/blue_wind_gets_so_sad
Summary: David Jacobs finds himself put in a public high school after being homeschooled his entire life. What will happen when his guide just so happens to be a very familiar face? Will he get along with Jack Kelly's group of self-proclaimed "Newsies?" Will they start a revolution against the system?





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Trigger Warnings: Light swearing, mentions of transphobia.

                David Jacobs was sitting against a tree in the midst of a local forest, his phone pointed toward the sky as he searched for a good angle. He liked to take photographs to distract him from whatever was going on in his life. He usually just took photos of nature, but his favorite photos were the ones he took of old buildings and/or historical items. He loved to make up stories about the ones that had no known history. That was his thing. He loved history. He loved reading about events in the past and figuring out how they’ve repeated themselves over time. He loved finding out about people that had been in situations he’s been in. He loved-

                “Ah!” David squealed and accidentally threw his phone. He had moved it to a certain angle and saw a boy standing there looking down at him.

                “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to scare you!” The boy chuckled. He walked over to David’s phone and picked it up for him. “Woah, these are pretty good. You like taking pictures?” He started scrolling through the photos David had just taken as he walked back over.

                “Yeah. You like snooping through other people’s things?” He snatched his phone away, closed out the app, then put his phone in his pocket.

                The boy’s eyes widened slightly. “I’m sorry. I-I just saw the photo and-” His smile went away and he cut himself off, then he focused his gaze on the ground.

                David huffed. “It’s fine.” They stood in silence until David stuck his hand out in front of him. “I’m David.”

                The smile came back as he shook David’s hand. “Nice to meet you, Davey. The name’s Jack Kelly.”

                “Nice to meet you as well, Jack. What are you doing here, may I ask? I’ve never really seen anyone else around here before.”

                “Oh! I like to paint. It helps me relax and it gives me a distraction from all of the bullshit going on in my life.”

                David smiled. “That’s funny. Photography does the same for me.”

                “Hey! How about we tell each other about our bullshit and see if we can do anything to help each other?”

                “We just met.”

                “So? I bet you five bucks you haven’t told anyone about what’s going on.”

                “…I’m not giving you five dollars.”

                “See! C’mon. I’ll even go first if it makes you feel more comfortable.” Jack sat down and leaned against a tree across from the one David was beside earlier. David sighed and gave in, sitting beside his tree. “Alright! First off, you aren’t a transphobe, are you?”

                “Oh, no. Definitely not.”

                “Good. So, I’m trans. I haven’t exactly been hiding it, but some asshats at my school found out and they told everyone. All of my friends knew already, but a lot of people apparently didn’t. To make a long story short, people weren’t really nice to me last week. But, hey. It’s summer now. Fuck ‘em, right? Won’t have to see them until next year.”

                David waited a few seconds to make sure he was finished. “I’m so sorry, Jack. That should never happen to anyone.”

                “Eh, it’s alright. Everyone I trust and care about accepts me, and that’s what really matters. It just…kind of hurts. I don’t know. Anyway, your turn!”

                “But-”

                “Hey, we had a deal.”

                “I know, but you-”

                “Ah.”

                “Jack-”

                “Ah.”

                “Would you just-”

                “Ah.”

                “ _Fine._ I lost a friend earlier.”

                “That isn’t good. How?”

                “One of my friends moved away a few weeks ago and my boyfriend went with our other friend to go see him. Here, we’ll call them X, Y, and Z. X is the friend that moved away, Y is my boyfriend, and Z is the other friend. Well, we’re all in a group chat together and Y and Z sat there and planned a visit and didn’t even mention me. I would’ve understood if they couldn’t take me or if they didn’t have room or something like that, but no. They didn’t mention me. When I confronted them about it, Y was civilized and apologized. However, Z tried to lie and make up excuses. She tried to claim I was asleep and that Y texted my mother to wake me up. He didn’t. We showed her the proof, and she totally changed the topic, then tried to offer me financial assistance.”

                “Hold on. Financial assistance?”

                “She basically said that she would’ve given me money if I needed it. We were also supposed to hang out the day after they visited X, but I had too much homework and had to stay home. Of course, Z thought I was just making excuses and tried to accuse me of lying. My mother got involved at that point, and the entire thing was shut down. Next thing I knew, Z had unfriended me and blocked me. But, whatever, you know? She was full of drama and I don’t need that in my life.” David shrugged and picked at the grass.

                “That was really shitty of them not to think about you, but you’re right. If she’s nothing but drama, then you don’t need her bringing you down.”

                “I know. It still hurts a bit, though.”

                “Yeah…hey! How about we become friends? We’ve both shared our issues with each other, we both have an interest in the visual arts, and, well, you need a friend you can trust. So, how about it?”

                “I…sure. Why not?”

                Jack smiled brightly and pulled a Sharpie out of his pocket. “Can I?” He gestured toward David’s hand.

                “Go ahead.” Davey held out his hand. Jack lightly grabbed it and wrote something on David’s hand.  When he released his hand, David saw that it was Jack’s number. “You could’ve just put it in my phone.”

                “I like Sharpies.” Jack shrugged, still smiling. David returned the smile.


	2. The First Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Davey reunites with a familiar face and meets said face's friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warnings: Swearing, deadnaming, pronoun misusage, mentions of homophobia, mentions of transphobia, mentions of racism.
> 
>  
> 
> (Nothing too severe, but I still wanted to put it up there.)

                David gripped a piece of paper in two hands. He could hardly read it from how badly his hands were shaking, but he really didn’t need to read it again; he had already read over it many times since he received it in the mail a few weeks back. He folded the sweat-drenched paper to the best of his ability and shoved it into his pocket as he got out of his large van. It was a hand-me-down, sure, but he loved that thing to death. He fumbled with his keys and locked the doors nearly five times before he was satisfied. He wiped his hands off on his pants, then reached in his pocket for the same piece of paper. He unfolded it and sighed as he stared at the large building ahead. He was a sophomore; why did he need to be put in public school this late in life? Also, why did he have to be put in a good three weeks after the school year had already started?

                He hesitantly started walking towards the building, repeating all of the information on the paper to himself in a low whisper.

                “My guide is Frances Sullivan. My first period is debate. Second is geometry, third is genetics, fourth is government, then lunch, fifth is gothic studies, sixth is Latin I, and seventh is my free period. Frances Sullivan. Debate, geometry, genetics, government, lunch, gothic, Latin, free. Frances, debate, geometry, genetics, government, lunch, gothic, Latin, free. Alright. I think I’ve got it.”

                David hung his head down and hunched his shoulders as he power-walked past his fellow students. He pulled one of the large doors open and slipped inside, taking an almost immediate right into the office. The woman working the office desk turned around in her chair to look at him.

                “Hi, uh, I’m new.”

                “Ah! Well, welcome to Pearst. May I see your schedule?”

                “Yes, ma’am.” He handed it to her over the counter.

                Her eyebrows shot up in surprise and a smile spread across her face as she took the paper from him. “Polite, huh? We could use more of you around here.”

                David simply chuckled in response and took the chance to glance around the office. There were multiple rooms, including one for the principal. He hoped he’d never have to go in there.

                “I presume you’ve already read this. Once the bell has rung, I’ll call Miss Sullivan in here and she can do her duties. Speaking of, she might be able to learn a thing or two from you.” She handed the schedule back to him and gestured for him to sit down in one of the chairs in the front of the office. He had no idea what she meant by that, but he guessed he would find out soon enough. She had commented on how they could use more polite students, so maybe that’s what she meant. What if this Frances was a troublemaker? He didn’t want to get into trouble on his first day of school. What if Frances was a total jerk? What if Frances ditched him at the beginning of the tour and just went on with her own business? What if-

                “Sweetheart?” It was the woman.

                “Y-Yes, ma’am? I’m sorry. I zoned out.” David replied, wiping his sweaty hands on his pants again.

                “It’s alright. I was just telling you that Miss Sullivan is on her way.”

                “Ah, okay. Thank you, ma’am.”

                “You’re welcome.”

                Almost ten seconds later, another entrance to the office flew open and a student slid into the office. David thought the entrance was only for teachers, but it was apparent that this student either didn’t know that or did and chose to ignore it.

                “Ms. Hannah! It’s always nice to see you in the morning.”

                “How are you, Miss Sullivan?”

                “It’s Mister, now, Ms. Hannah. Mister Jack Kelly.”

                David’s head shot up so quickly his neck popped.

                “Alright, Mister Kelly. Miss Margaret Jacobs is right in there.” The woman, Ms. Hannah, gestured to David. He grimaced when he heard his dead name.

                Jack looked over at David and his eyes nearly popped out of his skull. “…Davey?” He walked over to him.

                “Jack.” The corners of David’s mouth twitched up into a smile. They stood there and stared at each other until they both went in for a hug at the same time.

                “I’ve missed you, Dave.”

                “I’ve missed you, too, Jack.”      

                The two had kept in contact over the summer, but they didn’t see each other again until that moment.

                “How’ve you been doing?” Jack pulled away after giving David a tight squeeze.

                “Pretty well. Better than the last time we saw each other. How about you?”

                “That’s good! People are still dic- _mean_ , but you can’t exactly stop them. All you can do is not let them bother you.”

                “Kids, I hate to break up this adorable little reunion, but you two need to get going.” Ms. Hannah said sweetly.

                “Right! Okay, so, you’re basically stuck with me all day. I have the entire day off to make sure you know where your classes are and where all you need to go. Let me see your schedule.” David handed his schedule to Jack, who creased his eyebrows and whistled as he read over it. “Molecular Genetics and Genomics? Advanced American Government? Gothic Studies? Latin? Jesus, Davey. You’ve got quite the classes here. Hey, why didn’t you take photography?” Jack led him out of the office and they made their way down the vacant hallway.

                “Photography is just something I do for fun. It takes the fun out of it if you’re told what you have to do and when to do it.”

                “Fair enough. Alright, let’s roll. I think I know people in just about all of your classes. Debate…Smalls! Smalls is in debate!”

                “Smalls?”

                “She’s great. You’ll love her. Anywho, Elmer is in geometry. Well, kind of. He might as well be _teaching_ geometry this year. He’s already blasted through all of the math programs this school has, so he gets to help out this year. The teacher teaches the lessons, then he walks around and helps anyone who needs it. He also tutors after school. The kid’s a math whiz. Specs is in genetics. Just look for a kid with glasses.”

                “A lot of people wear glasses, Jack.”

                “Yeah, I’ll just point him out to you. He doesn’t really like science in general, but damn is he into genetics. Kid Blink is in government.”

                “Why’re they called Kid Blink?”

                “He only has one eye.”

                “O-Oh.”

                “Katherine is in Gothic studies. Her nickname is Ace, but we rarely use it. Hot Shot is in Latin. They’re…a handful.”

                “Are they bad?”

                “No, they’re just…difficult to deal with, I guess. They came over from Brooklyn with Spot Conlon and they’re both just alike, except where Spot has a temper, Hot Shot isn’t very social. They’ll talk to you if they need to, but other than that, I wouldn’t count on it.” They reached the door to the debate classroom and Jack finished his explanation.

                “Wait. What about the free period?”

                “Well, you seem to have it the same period as me and all of my friends, so I’ll keep that a secret until the time comes,” Jack smirked and winked, then opened the classroom door.

 

*** 

 

                “So, are you enjoying your classes so far, Dave?” Jack questioned as they walked to whatever he had planned for their free period.

                “The classes, yeah. The people in them, not so much. I’m just used to a quieter setting. I’m sure I’ll get used to it. Your friends are pretty cool, though.” David had thoroughly enjoyed the heated debate he witnessed between Smalls and another student over whether video games are bad for children or not. He quickly found out that geometry was much easier with Elmer showing him how to do it since the way the teacher taught them was a huge backward-ass way that even Elmer admittedly hardly understood. Funnily enough, Specs was literally the only person in genetics that wore glasses, so David had no trouble figuring out who he was. Kid Blink was an entire mess and a half. He knew his facts, but he was the class clown. David had to hold back laughter every time the teacher called on him because she thought he wasn’t paying attention and he gave her the answer, plus some. Lunch was quiet and peaceful since he decided to stay in the library and just talk to Jack. David had taken a liking to Katherine the minute she whacked someone in the back of the head with her copy of _The Picture of Dorian Gray_ because they wouldn’t shut up and let the teacher talk. Of course, the Latin teacher had instructed Hot Shot to help David get caught up. Jack was right. Hot Shot wasn’t rude whatsoever, but they only talked to David when they had to.

                “Good! Okay, so here’s the plan for our free period. You can quite literally do anything. Hell, some people even go home. However, we have a little club we run. We make the school newspaper. The school has a website, but it’s never updated, so we’ve become the main source for school news. I want you to come in, hang with us, and see if you like it. If you don’t, I won’t pressure you. Sound good?” When they stopped in front of the door to the basement, Jack rummaged around in his backpack as he spoke and finally pulled out a newsboy cap. He adjusted it on his head and pushed open the door.

                “Yeah, sounds good. Is…Is it in the basement?” David coughed a little from the amount of dust around them.

                “Nah, but three of our members are. Their sixth period is garage band, and there aren’t any bells down here. Their teacher might as well be another student. She gets too into it and forgets to watch the time, but no one snitches. I’m always the one to come down here and tell everyone that it’s time to switch classes. I honestly don’t know what they do on the days I’m out.” Jack chuckled, seemingly not bothered by the dust.

                “Ah,” David responded. They made their way to the end of the corridor and Jack forced the heavy door open. The large room honestly looked like a concert venue. There were no chairs, so students either sat on the floor or stood close to the stage that took up half the room. Empty soda cans littered the floor, and various instruments were either hung up on the wall or propped up against it. Four students were onstage performing “Bad Reputation” by Joan Jett. The girl singing was dressed head to toe in black, except for her light pink leather jacket. Her guitar matched the jacket, as well as her microphone. The person next to her was dressed in a white hoodie, ripped black jeans, red converse, and a snapback they wore backward. They were also playing a guitar. The person on her other side was dressed in a white dress shirt, a black miniskirt, fishnet stockings, black combat boots, and they had purple hair that was styled in an undercut. They played a mean tambourine. The person playing the drums was wearing heavy black eyeliner, very worn out and ripped up blue jeans, black converse, and they were shirtless. They also had a tattoo on their chest of the symbol of St. Jimmy from _American Idiot_.

                When the girl noticed Jack, she stopped playing, and her band followed suit. “Time to leave?” She questioned. Jack nodded in response. Almost everyone groaned or sighed and went to grab their things. They all trudged out of the classroom, but the singer, guitarist, and drummer stayed with Jack and David, while the others left.

                “Ooo, Jackaboy, who’s the cutie? He your boyfriend?” The drummer teased with a smirk.

                “This is Davey. We met over the summer, but now he goes to school here. And, no, he is _not_ my boyfriend.” Jack slung an arm around David’s shoulders.

                “Damn. And here I thought you finally had some dick in your life.”

                “Hey, not everyone sucks dick in their free time like you do, Racetrack.” The girl poked the drummer, Racetrack, in the ribs with her elbow.

                “I do not suck dick in my free time.” Racetrack replied, thumping the girl on the forehead.

                “Duh, Sniper. Sucking dick is why he doesn’t have free time.” The guitarist laughed and threw a shirt at Racetrack.

                “Alright, alright. Calm down, you three. Like I said, this is Davey. David Jacobs, technically, but I call him Davey. Davey, this is Albert, Racetrack, and Sniper.” Jack pointed to each of them as he said their names.

                Racetrack put on the shirt Albert gave him, then crossed his arms over his chest. “Well, Davey, welcome to the most homophobic, transphobic, racist, etc. school in the entirety of Manhattan. If no one’s told you yet, it isn’t very safe here for people…like us. And, if you’re one of us, buckle the fuck up. These are going to be an interesting two years.”

                “Jesus, Race,” Sniper whispered.

                “What? Might as well tell him now instead of throwing him to the dogs and letting him see for himself.”

                “Race, you can traumatize Jack’s boyfriend on the way to the room. If Jack doesn’t show, Spot will decide to take over, and no one likes when that happens.” Albert started to walk down the corridor to the stairs.

                “I like when that happens.” Race followed Albert, and the other three came with.

                “That’s because you’re dating him.” Sniper reached over and thumped Race’s forehead like he did to her earlier.

                “You’ve got me there.”

 

***

 

                “You ready, Davey?” Jack questioned, his hand on the handle of the door to the club room.

                “I, uh…yeah.” David nodded. Jack threw open the door and let the other four in the room first, then he closed the door back. The entire room smelled like ink and paper, one of David’s favorite smells. He could get used to that after a long day of ~~hell~~ school.

                “Finally. I was just about to take over.” A small boy with very _very_ large arms huffed from his computer chair. David took a quick sweep of the room and noted that there had to have been twenty students in there, if not more.

                “Blame your boyfriend, Spot. He decided to give Davey here the ‘welcome to Hell’ talk.” Jack threw up his hands and wiggled his fingers dramatically. Sniper and Albert went to their respective seats, while Race walked over to Spot and sat in his lap. Before anything else could be said, Jack clapped his hands together and started up the club meeting. “Alright, so, first order of business: new kid. This is my pal, Davey. He just came here today and he’s here to figure out if he wants to join us or not. Please, no one scare him away. I know he already knows some of you, but let’s go around and introduce ourselves. Crutch, you can start us off.”

                “Hi, I’m Crutchie! He/him.”

                “You know me. Racetrack Higgins. He/him.”

                “You also know me. Albert DaSilva. He/him or they/them.”

                “I’m Romeo. He/him.”

                “Henry. He/him.”

                “Specs. He/him.”

                “Elmer. He/him right now.”

                “JoJo. He/him.”

                “Katherine. She/her.”

                “Finch. They/them.”

                “Mush. Also they/them.”

                “Kid Blink. He/him.”

                “Tommy Boy. He/him.”

                “Buttons. She/her at the moment.”

                “Spot. He/him.”

                “Sniper. She/her.”

                “Mike. He/him.”

                “Ike. They/them.”

                “Smalls. She/her.”

                “Hot Shot. They/ them.”

                After they all introduced themselves, they all looked at David expectantly. “Oh, uh, David. He/him.” He gave an awkward wave to everyone, then turned to Jack, who was then leaning backward in a computer chair, which is something you should never do.

                “Next step. We have this little tradition, of sorts, when there’s a new member. You don’t have to do it, but the new person just shares their story with the rest of the group. A form of bonding or whatever.”

                “I-I, uh…sure. Why not?”


	3. Newsies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> David shares his story with his new friends and decides if he wants to join them or not.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warnings: Swearing, mentions of transphobia.
> 
>  
> 
> (This chapter isn't really big. It's more of a filler, really.)

                “Well, there isn’t really much to tell. I’ve been homeschooled my entire life. I have a little brother named Les. When I was five, I broke my elbow falling down the stairs. We’re currently in the process of legally changing my name. I can’t really think of anything else. I’m not a particularly entertaining person.” David shrugged.

                “What about how you met Jack? He said you guys met over the summer.” Sniper suggested.

                “You guys have some fun summer nights?” Race winked and chuckled, prompting Jack to walk over and whack him with his cap.

                “We bonded over visual art and personal issues, actually. I was taking photos in a forest and he was there painting. He scared me half to death, then we talked.” There was a small smile on David’s face as he talked.

                “What were the personal issues?” Smalls asked with a concerned tone.

                David looked at Jack and raised an eyebrow.

                “It was around the time the Delancey’s outed me,” Jack explained. Various mutters, threats, and sounds of knuckles cracking echoed in the club room. They all eventually quieted and turned back to David.

                “Well, uh, I lost a friend that day.”

                “Wait. ‘Lost’ as in dead or ‘lost’ as in you cut the ties?” JoJo questioned.

                “Cut the ties. _She_ cut the ties, to be exact. One of our friends moved away and my now ex-boyfriend went with her to go see him.”

                “He did _what_?” Buttons scoffed.

                David’s eyes widened. “Oh, god, no. It wasn’t like that. They planned the trip in a group chat I was in and didn’t invite me.”

                Buttons settled back down, but it was obvious that she still wasn’t happy.

                “The day after, I was supposed to hang out with her and my ex, but my car was in the shop, I had no money, and I had homework, so I couldn’t go. The day we were supposed to hang out, I confronted both of them. My ex apologized and I was okay. However, she kept making excuses that we all proved to be wrong, and then she tried to accuse me of lying about not being able to hang out with them.”

                “That’s shitty as hell!” Hot Shot unexpectedly shouted. Sounds of agreement rang out through the room, mixed in with JoJo saying something about “watching your language.”

                “Hey! Hold on a minute. Ex-boyfriend? You guys aren’t together anymore?” Jack asked after getting the others to quiet down.

                “No, we aren’t.”

                “Why? What happened? Do I need to soak him? Because I will.”

                “Just…a lot of things. It’s mainly because I need to focus on school and he’s preventing me from doing so, but he did other things that caused me not to love him as much as I used to. His purposefully dead naming me kind of solidified the decision.” David put his hands in his pockets and looked at the floor. Once again, the yelling erupted throughout the room. He didn’t know how to feel about this. It wasn’t really that big of a deal, was it? All of these people, minus Jack, just met him and they were all so protective over him. Why? He wasn’t important. He was just another teenager trying to make it through life. He wasn’t special.

                He didn’t notice he was crying until he opened his eyes to see Katherine in front of him with her hands on his shaking shoulders. “Are you alright, David?” She questioned. Instead of answering, he threw his arms around her and she immediately hugged him back. The others stayed silent as Katherine comforted him, afraid that they did something to upset him.

                “N-No one has ever cared about me like that, outside of m-my family.” David finally said quietly.

                “We just met you, David, but we all care about you so much. Don’t forget that.”

                “I won’t.” They stayed like that for a few minutes, then David pulled back and wiped his tears away. “Enough about me. Don’t we have a newspaper to make?”

                “…Does that mean you’re in?” Jack asked.

                “Yeah,” David sniffled, “I’m in.”

                Everyone cheered and Katherine gave David another hug before returning to her seat. Crutchie dug around in a bag and produced a grey newsboy cap. He handed it over to Jack, who stood up and put it on David’s head.

                “You’re officially a newsie, Davey. Welcome to the club.” Jack smiled and patted David on the shoulder.

                “Thanks, Jack. For everything you did today, not just this.”

                “That’s what friends are for. Hey, you can sit in Race’s chair today. He obviously doesn’t plan on using it.” Jack’s smile turned into a smirk, which caused Race to stick his pierced tongue out at him from where he was still sat in Spot’s lap.

                “ _Maybe public school won’t be that bad_.” David thought.


	4. The Delancey Brothers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> David meets Oscar and Morris, and we get to see a little bit more into Hot Shot and Tommy Boy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger Warnings: Transphobia, swearing, bullying, violence, injury.
> 
>  
> 
> (There's a lot of the "t" slur. Like, I winced every time I typed it. The fight scene isn't very good, because I frankly can't write fight scenes. Also, I've never had bruised ribs and I've never worn a binder bc I can't get one yet, so most of this chapter is based solely on research.)

 

                David made his way down the hallway, struggling to remember where the Latin classroom was. Jack couldn’t help him anymore, so he was on his own. Well, kind of. He made a right and saw two other students standing at the end of the hall talking to each other.

                “Oh, thank God. I thought I’d have to walk into one of these classrooms and embarrass myself. Do either of you know where the Latin classroom is?” He asked them. They both turned around at the same time and smirked at each other.

                “New kid?” The taller one responded.

                “Yeah, I’m new.”

                “Ain’t you the girl that was hanging out with Frances Sullivan all day yesterday?” The shorter one questioned.

                David’s jaw clenched. “His name is Jack.”

                “What, you believe that shit?” Shortie laughed.

                “Hey, Oscar, I bet she’s just like Sullivan, based on the way she’s dressed. You one of them trannies?” Tall-Guy elbowed Shortie, or Oscar, in the arm and laughed.

                “I just want to know where the Latin classroom is.”

                “Hey, tranny. My brother asked you a question.” Oscar stalked closer to David, cracking his knuckles.

                “As did I.” David’s voice came out quieter than he intended, but they still heard him.

                “I asked you a question.” Tall-Guy completely ignored David and stepped closer to him as well, ending up only a few centimeters away.

                “I’ll find it myself.” David huffed and walked away. However, before he could make it far, he was pulled back and pinned to a wall.

                “You don’t get to walk away from us, you damn tranny!” Tall-Guy, who was holding him to the wall, drove his fist into his stomach and let him fall to the floor. He then punched David in the face so that he was sprawled across the floor. Oscar quickly moved to where he could stand on David’s wrists so he couldn’t try to fight back. David clenched his jaw against the pain as Tall-Guy delivered damaging kicks to his torso. The moment he finally let out a whimper, both of them were ripped off of him. He rolled over and groaned, then started coughing. All he heard was painful shouts, skin hitting skin, and a few cracks.

                Suddenly, someone pulled him up off of the ground and began running. David could hardly keep up due to the pain, but he managed it. He was pushed into the bathroom and into a stall, then was picked up, stood on the toilet seat, and pushed down to where he was crouching on it. The other person had a hand over his mouth and a finger pressed to their own, telling him to be quiet. It was Hot Shot. Their lip was busted and their left eye was starting to swell. They both stayed there like that, even after the bell rang, until the bathroom door was thrown open. David flinched every time a stall door was kicked in and nearly made a noise when whoever it was started beating on their door.

                “Occupied.” Hot Shot spat, their voice less gruff than normal. After a few seconds, the sounds of Tall-Guy and Oscar grumbling were heard, followed by the bathroom door slamming shut. Hot Shot sent David a look that told him to stay there, then they slowly opened the stall door. No one was there. They creeped out and looked to see if anyone was in the hallway, but no one was there either. They walked back to the stall and gestured for David to follow them.

                “I change my mind. Public school sucks.” David mumbled as he massaged his wrists. Hot Shot cracked a smile but said nothing. “Who were those guys?”

                “The Delancey brothers. Oscar and Morris. They’re bad news. Stay away from them.” The gruff voice was back.

                The Delancey brothers. David should’ve figured; they even looked similar. They’re the ones who outed Jack.

                “Thanks for saving me back there, Hot Shot.”

                “You’re welcome. Mrs. Davidson sent me to find you. She figured you got lost.”

                “She was right.” David chuckled, then inhaled sharply due to a twinge of pain in his ribs. When he saw that they were approaching the door to the club room, he asked, “Hey, shouldn’t we be going to the nurse?”

                “No. Their uncle is the nurse.”  

                “Oh.”

                Hot Shot opened the door for him and they both shuffled into the club room.

                “Where the hell were- Davey? What happened?” Jack made his way over to the two of them, taking in the damage.

                “I ran into the Delancey brothers. I mean, I didn’t _literally_ run into them, but I stumbled across them and they, well, beat me up, to put it lightly.”

                “Why’re you breathing so weird?” Jack questioned. Davey didn’t even notice it until then. He really should’ve paid attention to himself a little bit more. He started to realize that maybe some of the pain wasn’t from him getting his ass kicked. “C’mon.” Jack left the classroom with David in tow. Inside, Specs got the first aid kit out of the closet and got to work on Hot Shot. “Dave, you should take it off. You aren’t breathing right.”

                “Jack-”

                “Dave, please. I don’t want you to get any more hurt than what you already are.”

                “I, uh, don’t have anything else to…put on.”

                Jack bit his lip in thought, then popped his head back into the classroom. “Anyone have a hoodie we can borrow?” Albert instantly stood up and shucked his hoodie, then walked over and handed it to Jack. “Thanks, Al.” He closed the door back and gave the hoodie to David, then led him to the nearby bathroom. “Just call me in if you need help, alright?”

                “Alright.”

                Jack heard a lot of whimpering and groaning, but he didn’t want to go inside unless David wanted him to. After ten minutes or so, David exited the bathroom with Albert’s famous white hoodie on. “Did Hot Shot tell you why we can’t go to the nurse?” David nodded. “Okay, well, all of us know basic first aid. However, although they aren’t professionals, Specs and Tommy Boy know more than the rest of us. Specs usually takes over all of the medical issues in the group, but you might be more comfortable with Tommy Boy checking on you. If you aren’t comfortable with that, though, you could go see a doctor.”

                David thought for a few seconds, then replied, “No. I’d rather have someone who understands than someone who doesn’t.” He shuddered as he thought about his doctor, who had a ridiculous policy of “I’ll call you David when it’s legally your name.”

                “Alright. Stay here. I’ll go get him.”

                When Jack walked away, David subconsciously crossed his arms over his chest to hide the obvious shape of his breasts.

 

*** 

 

                “I don’t feel anything broken, so that’s good. They’re probably just bruised, but I’m not a professional. I’m not going to suggest going to a doctor, because I know how that experience can be, but if you feel like you should, then that’s your choice. What I do suggest is ibuprofen, a cycle of ice, rest, and heat, and keeping your chest elevated. I know this is the last thing you want to hear, but you can’t wear your binder until you heal. Even a doctor would tell you that.” Tommy Boy sadly smiled up at Davey from where he was kneeling on the bathroom floor.

                “Yeah, I know. Thanks, Tommy Boy. Would you happen to know how long it’ll take?” David grabbed Albert’s hoodie off of the counter and began to put it back on, struggling a little bit.

                “No problem, Davey. Three to six weeks, usually.” Tommy Boy stood and helped David slip the hoodie on, which made him wish he had asked for help the first time.

                “Alright.” David sighed and put his hands in the pockets of the hoodie.

                “Hey, you know we’ve got your back, right? Like Katherine said, we all care about you a lot.”

                “Thank you. I care about you guys as well.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The plot thickens in the next chapter.


	5. Maps

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The one where we learn more about Jack and the main plot is introduced.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger Warnings: Swearing (like, maybe one??? maybe??? one swearing???), homophobia.
> 
>  
> 
> (I based this chapter a little off of the section of the musical where they find out Pulitzer brought up the price of papers and I had my phone propped up against the laptop screen so I could look at the script. I'm surprised my keyboard still works from the number of times my phone fell and hit it.)

 

                “I couldn’t sleep at all last night.” Race mumbled tiredly, his face buried in Spot’s chest.

                “Neither could I. I’m nervous.” Smalls uncomfortably shifted in her computer chair and adjusted her cap to where it was backward.

                “I’m sure it’ll be fine, guys.” Specs commented, not sounding entirely sure.

                “Specs, c’mon. You’ve been going here as long as the rest of us have. You’re nervous, too.” Buttons replied, attempting to distract himself by watching _Cats_. Specs huffed and started picking at the exposed wood of the table.

                “I wish Albie and Jack would hurry up and get here.” Elmer was sprawled out across both her seat and Albert’s seat, her cap covering her face.

                “We could always, you know, work on the newspaper. We are the newspaper club, after all.” Mush suggested.

                “Yeah, you can have fun trying to focus on your column.” Finch had their feet propped up on their table and was picking at the skin around their fingernails. Mush rolled their eyes and turned on their computer.

                Everyone nearly jumped up when the door to the club room opened. It was David. “Hey, everybody. Sorry, I’m late. I got a little lost again.”

                “Has no one given you a map?” Henry questioned.

                “We have maps?” Mike and Ike asked in unison.

                “I don’t recall being given a map,” David answered.

                “I don’t recall there ever being maps.” Katherine joined in.

                “Just get Jack to draw you one. He knows this school up and down. He’s had to hide in just about every crevice of this dump.” Henry checked his watch and sighed.

                “Hide? Why?”

                Everyone stopped what they were doing and stared at him in confusion.

                “Wait. You don’t know?” Spot scoffed.

                “I guess not.” David raised an eyebrow in equal confusion.

                “Jack’s a legend around here! Everyone knows who he is. He was always the one the popular kids would turn to for answers to homework and for paper or pencils, but one summer he came back to school and his entire personality had just flipped. When they discovered they couldn’t just push him over anymore, they started to just not like him. But then he stopped caring about not getting in trouble, and that’s when all hell broke loose. He isn’t the type to just get in trouble for no reason, but if it’s to defend people who can’t defend themselves, then he’s all for it. Hardly any of the students, teachers, and the staff likes him, other than his and Spot’s mother and the ones that agree with his views, so he’s often running away from other kids or adults with nothing better to do.” Crutchie explained excitedly. Whispers broke out through the room and David heard something about “Snyder the Spider.”

                “You and Jack are brothers?” David asked Spot.

                “Adoptive, yeah.”

                “Ah.” You learn something new every day. “So, how has everyone been doing today?”

                “Ask me after Albert and Jack get here.” Tommy Boy’s leg was a blur as he bounced it anxiously.

                “Where are they?”

                “They’re down in the office trying to convince Pulitzer to let us have a GSA,” Sniper answered.

                “Is it going to work?”

                “Not likely.” Race groaned, turning to face David. He had light bags under his eyes, his piercings weren’t in, and he didn’t have eyeliner on. The others had seen him like that, but it was definitely new to David.

                “Come on, guys. We can’t lose hope. I’m sure they’ll come busting through the door any minute now, smiles on their faces, saying-” JoJo got cut off by the door being thrown open.

                “It didn’t work!” Jack exclaimed.

                “What’d you say!?” Mush jumped out of their chair, nearly knocking Finch over in the process.

                “He hardly let us talk!”

                “What’d he say?” Specs questioned.

                “He said, and I quote, ‘I will not allow that kind of filth contaminate my school. It is disgusting, vile, and sickening. Now, get out of my office before I give both of you detention.’” Albert made his voice deeper to mock Pulitzer.

                “He can’t just say that, can he?” Finch then rose out of their chair and walked up to Albert and Jack. One by one, everyone followed.

                “Why not? It’s his school.” Race whined hopelessly.

                “Don’t we have rights!?” Henry shouted.

                “We have the right to suffer. We ought to just get back to work and forget the idea.” Crutchie gestured to his computer.

                “After all of that!?”

                “Do we have a choice!?”

                “Hold on! No one’s forgetting anything.” Jack sat down on a chair at the front of the classroom.

                “Do you have an idea?” Tommy Boy threw his arms out.

                “Keep your shirt on and let me think!”

                “I have my shirt on!”

                “Aha! What if we don’t show up to school? That has to hurt them somehow!”

                “What? Like a strike?” David spoke up. 

                “Hey, you heard Davey. We’re on strike!”

                “Whoa. I didn’t say-”

                “We’re quite a big number here! We could do it!”

                “My father wouldn’t even think about letting me stay home for no reason!” Finch argued.

                “This isn’t ‘no reason’! Right, Davey?”

                “Leave me out of this. I didn’t ask to be here.” David turned to look out of the window.

                “Oh, and the rest of us chose this? Just because we’re different doesn’t give anyone the right to treat us like that!”

                “It doesn’t matter. You can’t strike.”

                “And why is that?”

                David let out a laugh in disbelief. “We’re _students_! Sure, it might put a dent in their perfect system, but if we’re out too many days, our parents will be sent to court! I don’t know about the rest of you, but I personally don’t want that happening! I’m already lying to them about my ribs. I don’t need them going to jail.”

                Everyone sighed and thought in silence.

                “You have to have an idea, Davey.” Hot Shot’s voice was soft like it was when they saved him from Oscar and Morris a few days before.

                David groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose. “…We could protest.” He suggested.

                “What’s the difference?” Race raised his hand and asked.

                “When you go on strike, you usually stop working altogether, but like I said, we can’t do that. A protest can occur before or after working hours. Hell, you could even protest _while_ working.”

                “How do we do that?” Jack questioned. David didn’t respond. “Davey?” David cursed, then walked over and joined the group.

                “Here’s what we do. We start out small. We need people on our side. We need adults _and_ kids. We quite literally wear our pride on our sleeve. Head to toe in nothing but pride colors. If any of us can’t safely wear anything like that around our families, then we help each other out. We make a petition. If none of that works, we get the entire neighborhood involved. We show Pulitzer that he can’t just walk all over us. We have rights!”

                “Yeah!” Everyone agreed in unison.

                “Alright. We might as well start now. Does anyone know any adults we can get on our side?”

                Everyone aside from Katherine, Race, Buttons, Romeo, Spot, and Jack shook their heads. Those six smiled at each other, then turned to David. “Miss Medda.”


	6. Cats

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We get a closer look at the theatre nerds and Medda finds out about the plan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger Warnings: Mentions of fighting, swearing.

                “Who is Miss Medda, may I ask?” David questioned as the large group of students sped to a building that was disconnected from the high school. It was decently large, but it wasn’t as big as the school building.

                “Spottie and I’s foster mom. Also, the drama teacher.” Jack answered.

                “Call me ‘Spottie’ again and you won’t see tomorrow.” Spot spat out an empty threat.

                “Ah, you love me.” They all skidded to a stop when they reached the doors. Jack tried to open them, but they were locked. He dug around in his pockets, only to pull them out empty-handed. “Hey, uh, Spot? Do you have your key?”

                Said boy groaned and softly pushed Jack out of the way. “After that, you better be glad it’s more than just you and me. If it was just us, you’d be going in through the roof.” He pulled a key on a necklace out from under his shirt and unlocked a door, then held it open for everyone.

                “It was just a joke!” Jack chuckled, his voice echoing through the large auditorium.

                “’Thank you, Spot. Love you, Spot. You’re the best brother in the world, Spot. I don’t know what I’d do without you, Spot.’” Spot grumbled under his breath.

                “Thank you, Spot. Love you, Spot. You’re the best boyfriend in the world, Spot. I don’t know what I’d do without you, Spot.” Race repeated Spot’s words and gave him a quick peck on the lips before following the line into the auditorium.

                David hadn’t been in a theatre or an auditorium in such a long time. He did a few plays when he was younger, but he always got background roles because he couldn’t grasp the concept of acting. He always enjoyed it, though. He made so many friends and they were always like a huge family, but then his family had to move away and he never got back into it.

                Everyone put their bags down in the back of the auditorium and moved to sit up front. After a few seconds, Buttons and Race jumped up at nearly the same time and dashed toward the stage. Buttons jumped and flipped onstage, whereas Race cartwheeled onstage. Romeo took off after them but disappeared backstage instead of staying up front. A few moments later, he came out brandishing a sword.

                “Guys, look! It’s the sword I used in _Romeo & Juliet _in freshman year!” He shouted, pretending to stab Race with it. It was very reassuring to see them all in a better mood, but David knew the mood was going to be brought back down as soon as they told this “Miss Medda” the news.

                Buttons gasped and ran backstage, then came back out wearing tap shoes. He also had a pair in his left hand and another in his right. “Tommy Boy! Specs! Mine still fit!”

                Tommy Boy and Specs raced up to the stage and took the tap shoes, immediately shucking the ones on their feet and putting the others on. They began to perform a tap number in the middle of the stage, while Race and Romeo had a sword battle around them.

                “Theatre nerds?” David leaned back and asked Katherine.

                “Big time. Specs and Tommy Boy aren’t, though. They mainly participate in dance-centric shows. That number they’re doing right now is from _Cats_.” She responded with a smile on her face.

                “You guys put on _Cats_?”

                “Barely. We were in it when we were in middle school because hardly anyone in the high school wanted to do it. I played so many roles that it took me hours to scrub off all of the layers of paint they slapped on me in between songs. I know that dance, too, but my shoes probably don’t fit anymore.” She laughed.

                “Oh gosh, wow.” David laughed as well. “Buttons seems to be really into _Cats_.”

                “Oh, yeah. He’s always been into _Cats_. No one knows why, though. He won’t tell anyone. All he says is that it means a lot to him. He was begging Medda to let him audition long before she turned to the middle school students. He was ecstatic when she let him, but he cried when he got the part of Mr. Mistoffelees. That’s always been his dream role.”

                “Who did you and the others play?” David had seen _Cats_ once or twice in his lifetime.

                “Ah, man, let’s see. I was Grizabella, Jennyanydots, and Skimbleshanks. Like I said, we were low on casting. Tommy Boy was Rumpelteazer. It was before he came out, but he enjoyed playing the role. Specs was Munkustrap. Race had multiple roles like me. He was Rum Tum Tugger, Mungojerrie, Rumpus Cat, and Macavity. I still don’t see how he pulled it off.”

                “I’m just like Mungojerrie, Kath! A quick-change comedian!” Race shouted as he and Romeo fought across the rows of seats.

                “You kids haven’t changed a bit!” A cheerful voice rang out through the auditorium.

                “Miss Medda!” The theatre nerds (plus Jack, Spot, Specs, and Tommy Boy) exclaimed. They all dropped what they were doing and ran to her, hugging her at the same time.

                “I’ve missed you all so much!” She hugged them all back and kissed them all on their foreheads.

                “You see me and Jack every day, Mama Medda.” Spot had a genuine smile on his face.

                “That doesn’t mean I don’t miss you during the day! Now, as much as I enjoy seeing all of you, I don’t recall posting auditions yet, so there has to be a reason _all_ of you are here. Is Snyder after you all again?” Her smile fell and she put her hands on her hips.

                “Not this time, surprisingly. It’s Pulitzer.” Jack answered.

                “ _Pulitzer_ is after you?”

                “Not…necessarily. We tried to get him to let us have a GSA.”

                “It didn’t go well, I take it.”

                “He called us disgusting, vile, and sickening, then threatened to give us detention if we didn’t leave.” Albert got out of his seat and joined the others.

                Medda gasped. “He can’t say that!”

                “That’s what I said!” Finch exclaimed.

                “Do I need to march up there right now and give him a piece of my mind? Because I will.” Medda didn’t wait for an answer. She started walking toward the doors, but the group of kids held her back.

                “No, Ma, don’t. We have a plan.” Jack’s mischievous smile spread across his face. Medda smirked and raised an eyebrow in response, a look that told Jack to explain. “The leader of our little revolution can explain it better. Davey, c’mere.”

                “Okay, whoa. I wouldn’t call myself the leader. I’d consider myself the Hamilton to your Washington, except I wouldn’t cheat on my partner.” David rose from his seat and walked up to the group.

                “Ma, this is Davey. He’s the one I told you I met over the summer.”

                “It’s so nice to finally meet you, David! Jack’s told me so much about you.”

                “ _Ma,_ ” Jack whined.

                “All good things, I hope. It’s nice to meet you, too, Miss Medda.”

                “Oh, definitely. Almost all he did over the summer was talk about you.”

                “Ma, _please_ , stop.” Jack crossed his arms over his chest and looked away. David could’ve sworn he saw a light blush on his cheeks.

                “Alright, alright. What’s the plan?” Medda laughed, then went dead serious in a matter of seconds. David outlined the plan and soon the entire group was gathered around Medda. “I believe you kids could pull it off, I do, but are you sure you’re all up for the task? We all know there are risks.” They all looked at each other, then back at Medda and nodded. “Well, you have my full support then. You know, I don’t think I have any pride items here, but there might be a rainbow-colored thing or two in the prop room.” They all gasped and took off backstage, but Medda made two of them stay behind. “Race, baby, you stay right there. Jack and I will be right back.” They exited the auditorium and stood outside. “Jack, do you like David?”

                “…Yeah? He’s a pretty cool guy.”

                “You know what I mean.”

                “I…”

                “You do, don’t you!?” Medda smiled brightly.

                “I might! I don’t know!”

                “Jack, you always get the goofiest grin on your face when you talk about him and let’s not pretend you don’t say his name in your sleep.”

                “Oh my god, Ma. I’m going back inside.”

                “Hey, we’ll talk about this more later. I’m not letting this go.”

                “La, la, la, la, la. I’m not listening!”

                “Send Racetrack out here!”

                A few seconds later, Race came out of the back door with fear in his eyes. Before Medda could say anything, he began to ramble. “Did I do something wrong? Are you mad at me? Is Spot mad at me? Did I accidentally say something wrong? Did I-”

                “Honey, no. You didn’t do anything wrong. Here, sit down.” She sat down on the back doorsteps and patted the spot beside her. He sat down and waited for her to speak this time. “Now, you don’t have to tell me anything you don’t want to, but I’m a bit worried. I’ve known you for a long enough time to know that something is wrong when you aren’t wearing eyeliner.”

                “I didn’t get any sleep last night. I…I was worried about what Pulitzer would say.” He looked down and fiddled with his fingers in his lap.

                “Are you sure?”

                Race looked up at her and shook his head, his eyes glazed over with tears. Medda smiled sympathetically and held her arms open. He nearly threw himself into her arms and broke down. She rocked him back and forth and rubbed his back.

                “They fought all night again, Miss Medda. It w-was bad.  When I came out of my room, m-my Mama was gone and s-so was all of her stuff. My dad went off on a business trip today and he won’t be back until n-next week. I don’t know what I’m g-gonna do, Miss Medda. I don’t want to be alone.”

 

*** 

 

                When the final bell rang, they all exited the prop room looking like a miniature pride parade. Romeo had gotten ahold of a rainbow boa, Elmer got her hands on fake rainbow eyelashes, and Crutchie had gotten into the glitter from the looks of himself and everyone else. Medda and Race came in from outside and he immediately ran to his boyfriend.

                “Do you mind if I stay with you for a few days? Medda said I could, but I just want to make sure I’m not-”

                “Of course you can stay with us, babe. You’re always welcome at Chateau Larkin.” Spot chuckled, then frowned. “Is everything alright?”

                “Yeah, just, uh…family issues. I’ll tell you later.”

                “Alright. Hey, Jack! Race is staying with us!”

                “Just don’t moan too loud! Sound from your room echoes in mine and I really don’t need to hear that!” Jack laughed while trying to pick a piece of glitter off of David’s face that was dangerously close to his eye. Spot laughed mockingly in response and started to leave the auditorium with Race.

                “If you aren’t at the truck within five minutes after I get there, I’m leaving without you. I have shit to do.”

                “You wouldn’t.” Jack gasped.

                “Oh, I would,” Spot called over his shoulder.

                “Would he?” David questioned.

                “He would. He’s done it before. I’ve done it to him, too, though, so it’s alright.” Jack finally got the glitter away from David’s eye.

                “If you don’t make it, I could drive you. I just have to pick my little brother up first.” David offered.

                “Ah, I wouldn’t want to-”

                “Nonsense. I already know what you’re going to say. If Spot’s gone, you’re riding with me. No ‘buts.’”

                “Alright, jeez. You know, I’m kind of excited to meet your little brother. From what you’ve said about him, he sounds like a cool little guy.”

                “You two are just alike, believe me. You’ll get along perfectly.”


	7. S'mores

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A closer look at the personal lives of David, Jack, Spot, and Race.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger Warnings: Mentions of fighting, swearing.
> 
>  
> 
> (This one is a filler. It doesn't really have anything to do with the main plot, but if you want to see more of their personal lives, then this is the one for you. There'll probably be more of these for various characters scattered throughout this story.)

                David pulled into the car rider line of the elementary school like every day and put his vehicle in park as he waited for the line to move.

                “Davey, your car is _huge_.” Jack laughed as he looked around.

                “As you’ve said for the past ten minutes. It honestly isn’t that big.” David rolled his eyes playfully.

                “It’s bigger than Spot’s truck. God, I forgot what having leg room feels like. Holy shit, Davey. Your car can be the squad-mobile.”

                “I can only fit eight people in here, Jack. Nine if no one wears seatbelts and squeezes together.”

                “Plus, you have a radio! Spot’s truck doesn’t have one. He likes driving when it’s quiet, though, so he wouldn’t put one in anyway.”

                “Yeah, I could never do that. Silence when I’m driving makes me nervous. I have to have something going on in the background at all times, whether it be talking, music, or whatever.”

                Finally, the line started to move. A small group of kids flowed out of the building and Jack could pick Les out immediately. He honestly was like a miniature David, plus he was running straight for the car. Within five seconds, the kid was in the car and buckled up.

                “Hi, David! Hi, David’s boyfriend!”

                “Wh- No- Les- I- He’s not my boyfriend! This is Jack.” This time, Jack noticed a light blush on David’s cheeks.

                “Hi, Jack! Wait. Jack? As in _the_ Jack? The Jack you obsessed over all summer?”

                “I did not obsess over him!” David furiously threw on his blinker and waited for the oncoming traffic to pass.

                “Uh, yeah, you did. It was wild. He couldn’t make it through the day without pointing out something you said or did. Anywho, I’m Les!”

                “Hiya, kid. It’s nice to finally meet you. Now, Les, could you _please_ tell your brother that this baby could totally function as a squad-mobile?” Jack avoided the earlier topic of conversation, mostly to save David from dying at the wheel from embarrassment.

                Les gasped and smiled brightly. “David, you have a squad!? I’m so proud of you!”

                “See? What’d I say? You two are just alike.”

 

*** 

 

                “Hey, uh, Davey? Can you take me by the store right quick? I need to grab a few things.” Jack asked, a worried tone to his voice as he stared at his phone.

                “Yeah, sure. Is everything alright?”

                “Spot asked me to get the ingredients to make s’mores.”

                “Is…that bad?”

                “Race likes to eat them, but it’s usually when he’s really upset about something.”

                “Oh.”

 

*** 

 

                Jack balanced on one leg and used the other to knock on his front door. He had a key, but his arms were full and David had already left. After about thirty seconds, the door opened up.

                “How is he?” Jack immediately questioned, walking in past Spot and moving toward the kitchen.

                “He’s watching _The Sound of Music_.” Spot drug a hand over his face and started helping Jack unpack the bags from the store.

                Jack inhaled through his teeth. “That bad?”

                “Yup.” He held up a finger and exited the room, then came back a few moments later. “He didn’t get any sleep last night.”

                “Were they fighting again?”

                “Yeah, but this time she left for good. Packed all of her shit and left.”

                “Jesus.”

                “His father won’t be back until next week, so that’s why he’s with us. Jack, I’ve never seen him like this. It’s never been this bad. We went by his house to get some of his clothes and he completely broke down when he saw her empty room. His throat’s sore from how much he screamed and cried.” Spot leaned his chest against the counter and rested his forehead on his palms.

                “He’ll get through this, Spot. He’s Racetrack. He always pulls through.” Jack got plates out of a cabinet and began to assemble the s’mores.

                “I know, but-”

                “If being Racetrack isn’t enough, then he has us. He has you, he has me, he has Medda, and he has everyone else, too.” Jack opened the microwave, then put the first plate in, closed the small door, and set the timer for twenty seconds. A few seconds later, Race entered the kitchen silently with a blanket draped around his shoulders as if he was summoned by the sound of the microwave turning on.

                “Did your musical go off, babe?” Spot asked.

                Race nodded in response while watching the plate spin slowly.

                “You alright, Race?” Jack questioned.

                Race shook his head. He wasn’t crying anymore, but he looked…dull. Numb. Void. It was an unusual sight. When the microwave went off, he took the plate out and shuffled back into the living room. Instead of restarting the musical or putting another disc in, he simply sat there and stared at the blue screen. Spot and Jack shared a look, then joined him in the living room.

                “Race, why don’t you go take a nap? You’ll feel a lot better.” Jack suggested.

                Race shook his head again and took a bite of one of his s’mores.

                “Do you want some milk or something to help wash that down?” Spot asked.

                Race shook his head.

                “Medda should be getting home soon. She’ll know what to do.” Jack whispered to Spot.

                The three of them sat there in silence until they heard a key unlocking the front door. Jack got up to greet Medda, while Spot stayed on the couch with Race.

                “Hey, Ma.” He gave her a hug, then pulled away after a few seconds.

                “Hey, baby. How’s Racetrack doing?”

                “Not good. He was watching _The Sound of Music_ and now he’s eating s’mores. Spot said he broke down when they went to get him some clothes from his house.”

                Medda walked over to Race and Spot moved out of the way. Spot and Jack stood together and watched Medda whisper something to him. Eventually, he looked up at her and nodded, then followed her out of the living room. A little while later, she came back alone.

                “He’s sleeping.” She said quietly.

                “What? How?” Spot whispered.

                “Do you boys remember when Race would stay over here when you were all little?”

                “Heh, yeah.  He quite literally bounced off the walls.” Jack smiled.

                “Do you remember how I always got him to sleep?”

                The boys shook their heads.

                “Three thin blankets and a comforter. The softest one would always go on bottom and the comforter was always on top. He’d fall fast asleep almost immediately. It still works like a charm.”


	8. Echo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We find out a bit more about one of our characters and we progress the plot. A little bit short, but it's entirely fluff with a pinch of angst. (Also, an OC??? I'm gaining confidence???)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warnings: Swearing, mentioned homophobia.

 

                “It’s noon-thirty, Davey. People are trying to sleep.” Elmer groaned as they slid out of the back of Sniper’s convertible. Albert slid out behind Elmer, while Smalls and Sniper hopped out of the passenger seats and the four of them walked over to David, who was leaning against the side of his van.

                “Yeah, what did you want us for?” Sniper tried to take off her sunglasses but was blinded by the sun so she put them back on.

                “Every day we wait is a day we lose, my friends. If we want to make a change, we can’t just put it on hold during the weekend. Besides, who isn’t awake by noon?” David’s cheery tone was a stark contrast to the others’ tones.

                “People who value their sanity.” Albert crossed his arms over his chest and huffed.

                David smiled and rolled his eyes. They all stood there on their phones until everyone else started piling into the parking lot of the community park David told everyone to meet him at. Spot, Jack, and Race were squeezed into the front of Spot’s truck, while Hot Shot was riding in the bed of the truck (illegally). Katherine and Crutchie were in Katherine’s yellow Volkswagen Beetle. Romeo, Specs, Finch, Mush, and Kid Blink were all in Specs’ small silver car. Henry, Mike, and Ike were in the hand-me-down Impala the twins had to share. JoJo, Tommy Boy, and Buttons were in JoJo’s mother’s Dodge Journey. Everyone could hear them coming down the road since Buttons had taken over the radio and was blaring show tunes.

                “Can you tell us what we’re here for now, Davey?” Albert asked as he softly shook Elmer to get them to wake up. (They had insisted on falling asleep in his lap.)

                “Alright. So, if we all remember correctly, there are two parts to the first step of our plan. Get people on our side, _and_ get pride items. We’re already working on that first part, so let’s start on that second one.” David explained.

                “Where are we supposed to get pride shit from that isn’t online? I’ve never seen an actual pride store.” Finch questioned.

                “Well, you see, there’s this underground place in-”

                “The Bronx.” Smalls cut David off.

                “Oh. You guys already know.” David glanced away, then kept his focus on his feet.

                “They don’t. But I do.” A small smirk appeared on Smalls’ face. David looked up and narrowed his eyes at her suspiciously. “What? I’m from the Bronx.”

                “Ah.” David nodded. “Well, we’d better get started on our journey.”

 

*** 

 

                The large group quietly made their way down an empty alley in the Bronx. Smalls and David were leading the group since David had looked up the directions and Smalls seemed to know the way by heart. Once they got close to the middle of the alley, both of them stopped in front of a large metal door. Smalls banged on it with her fist, then stood on her tiptoes when the slot in the door slid open.

                “What’s the password?” A deep voice growled from the other side.

                “Open the damn door. You know who I am.” Smalls hissed back.

                “All these years and you’re still so rude to me.” The voice decreased in pitch by _a lot_ and whoever it belonged to started unlocking the many locks on the door. Once the door was fully unlocked, it swung open to reveal a boy around their age that looked…very similar to Smalls. He had a few feet on her in height, but they still looked alike. “Heya, Smalls…and Co.?” He looked out at everyone in confusion.

                “These are my friends. I’ll introduce you to all of them later. We need to buy some of your shit.”

                “Damn. Here I thought you wanted to pay your favorite sibling a visit.”

                “You’re my only sibling.”

                “Which automatically makes me your favorite.” He stepped out of the way and swept his arm out to the side, gesturing for them to all come in. When they all entered the dark room, he closed the door back and locked it again. “So, you going to tell your friends who I am?” He hit a flashlight against his palm a few times to get it to turn on, then led the way to a staircase in the corner of the room.

                “Ah, yes. This is my twin brother, Echo. If he bothers any of you, just tell me and I’ll kick his ass.” Her tone was serious, but she had a smile on her face.

                Echo gasped. “You wouldn’t!”

                “You know I would!” She pushed him and he lost his balance, but he expertly pushed off of a step and front-flipped onto the floor of the basement. When he landed, he shined the flashlight on his face and stuck his tongue out at her.

                “Why do they call you Echo?” Albert asked suddenly.

                “Why do you think?” Echo mimicked Albert _perfectly_ , then winked at him. He walked further into the room and all of the lights turned on at the same time. Everyone gasped in unison as they looked around the room. It was quite literally nothing but pride. Every sexuality or gender you could think of had its own section and pride flags hung from the ceiling. “Hey, if you guys like that then you’ll _love_ the back room.”

                “Please don’t go in the back room.” Smalls closed her eyes and shook her head as Race, Spot, Jack, Romeo, and Blink ran to the back room. After a few seconds, all of them came back out except for Race and Spot.

                “Don’t go in the back room.” Blink said while looking at the ground, his face turning pink.

                “I tried to tell them.” Smalls shrugged at her brother, who had a big smirk on his face.

                When Race ran out with a rainbow strap-on attached to his forehead, they all immediately understood what was in the back room. Afterward, everyone dispersed throughout the room and began to browse. Echo moved to behind the check-out counter and Smalls hopped up on top of it.

                “How is everything at home?” Smalls questioned.

                “Don’t know. They kicked me out a few weeks ago because they found out I’m bi.” Echo shrugged as if it wasn’t a big deal.

                “Danny, I’m so-”

                “Nah, it’s fine. Like you said, we’re better off without them, right? I make enough money doing this to keep myself afloat, so it’s not like I need them for anything.” He suddenly became very interested in trying to peel off a penis-shaped sticker that was stuck to the counter.

                “Danny, you know you could always stay with me and Sniper. I’m sure she wouldn’t mind.”

                “And leave this place behind? I’m not leaving this place until someone comes and kills me and takes my body out of here. Hey, speaking of Sniper, which one is she? You’ve never shown me your girl before. Only talked about her. I have to give her the brotherly stamp of approval.” Echo quickly changed the topic.

                “Hey, babe! C’mere!” Smalls rolled her eyes then called out. Sniper made her way over and leaned against the front of the counter.

 

***               

 

                After an hour or two, they had quite literally bought half of the store’s stock. Most of them just had clothing items, but some of them had also gotten their hands on miscellaneous things. Race bought a few penis-shaped lollipops, Elmer found genderfluid pride flag stickers (which were definitely going to be stuck everywhere later on), and Tommy Boy got his hands on the strap-on Race had on his forehead earlier on.

                “My offer still stands,” Smalls told Echo, nodding her head toward Sniper.

                “Nah, I’m fine here. I appreciate it, though.” He replied.

                “Alright. Just know that if you change your mind, we won’t turn you down. I’ll see you around, little bro.”

                “We’re twins.”

                “Yeah, but I popped out first so that automatically makes me older.” She flashed him an exact imitation of his own signature smirk.

                “See you around, nerd. And, toodles to the rest of you!” He waved to the large group. In unison, they all waved back and said goodbye. They all went back up the stairs and were about to leave the building when Echo ran up the stairs after them. “Almost forgot. Good luck with your revolution.” This time, he gave them all an earnest smile.

 

*** 

 

                “So, Dave, what do we do now?” Jack questioned David once they all got back to their vehicles.

                “We go home.”

                “After that?” Finch asked.

                “We go to school. Pride and all.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love my boy Echo, y'all. I highkey loosely built him based off of Mungojerrie from Cats. (Can you guys tell I have a thing for Cats? Can you see who I'm projecting onto in this story? Also, did anyone watch Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends? Did you catch my reference at the beginning?)


	9. Pulitzer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Newsies begin their revolution. Things don't go so well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warnings: Transphobia, homophobia, attempted sexual assault, violence.
> 
>  
> 
> (This one's a tad bit shorter than I wanted it to be, but I wanted to just focus on the things that happen to them instead of the entire day of school, y'know? Also, I tried a thing with the lyrics to Seize the Day??? Idk how well I pulled it off??? You guys decide???)

 

                David’s hands shook as he tried to put the key in the ignition. When he couldn’t get it, Les reached over from the passenger seat and did it for him.

                “Thanks, Les.” David breathed out a shaky chuckle.

                “Are you okay?” Les questioned, genuinely concerned.

                “Yeah, just nervous is all. Do I look nervous?”

                “You look like you’re about to have a panic attack. No joke there.”

                “Let’s hope I don’t.” David put his van in reverse, then pulled out of their driveway. He glanced over and saw Les pinning a safety pin to his shirt. It had rainbow beads on it. “Did you make that?”

                “Yeah! Do you like it?” Les smiled brightly up at David.

                David glanced down at his own rainbow-colored clothes, then back to the road. “Yeah. Yeah, I do.” He smiled back. “Why’d you make it?”

                “To show that I support the revolution!” Les exclaimed, lifting his head to the sky and raising an invisible sword in his right hand.

                “You know about that?”

                “News spreads, David. News spreads.”

                David narrowed his eyes. “Jack told you when you answered my phone yesterday, didn’t he?”

                “Yep.”

                “Thought so.”

               

*** 

 

                When David walked up to the school building, something caught his eye. Standing underneath a tree was Hot Shot, smoking a cigarette like they weren’t on school property. They dropped it, stomped it into the dirt, then walked away, gesturing for David to come with them. As usual, Hot Shot said nothing the entire way to their destination, but David didn’t mind. Once the building came into view, David realized where they were headed. The auditorium.

                The moment they walked in, chaos erupted. Jack was immediately in David’s face, looking desperate. The rest of the group was arguing amongst themselves, some turning to yell at Jack or David every few seconds.

                “What are you- I can’t hear- Jack- I said I can’t-”

                “Hey!” Hot Shot suddenly yelled. The entire auditorium went quiet. “Fucking children.”

                “What, uh, what were you saying, Jack?” David cleared his throat and turned back to Jack.

                “They’re trying to back out!” Jack pointed at the crowd.

                “Look, Davey, I think we should just put this off a couple of days. I don’t know if we’re ready yet.” Race walked up to him and whined.

                “Race, no. We can’t. Remember what I-”

                “Every day we wait is a day we lose, we know. I just…I don’t know about this.”

                “We can’t just let them walk all over us, Race. Jack, say something. Tell them if we back off now they’ll never listen to us.”

                “Davey, I… Alright. Look. We can’t back down. No matter what might or might not happen. Like it or not, we’re doing this now.” Everyone just stared at him.

                “Come on, Davey. Tell them.”

                “Me?”

                “Yeah!”

                “Now is the time to seize the day. Stare down the odds and seize the day. Minute by minute, that’s how you win it. We will find a way, but let us seize the day.” David spoke.

                “Did…did you come up with that just now?” Tommy Boy asked.

                “I like poetry.” David shrugged.

                “Say more.” Mush sat down, the others slowly doing the same.

                “Okay, uh… Courage cannot erase our fear. Courage is when we face our fear. Tell those with power, safe in their tower: we will not obey.” They all watched as he went and sat down on the stairs of the stage. Some of them kept their eyes on him, while others looked around in thought, contemplating his words.

                “Keep going,” Katherine whispered encouragingly, a smile on her face.

                “Behold the brave battalion that stands side by side, too few in number and too proud to hide. Then say to the others, who did not follow through, ‘you’re still our family and we will fight for you.’” This got to the rest of them, and soon they were all contemplating his words. “Now is the time to seize the day. Stare down the odds and seize the day. Once we’ve begun, if we stand as one, someday becomes somehow and a prayer becomes a vow-”

                “And the fight starts right damn now!” Jack interrupted.

                “That was good, Jack.”

                “Thank ya.” Jack smiled, obviously proud of himself. His smile then faded and we walked to the front to stand next to David. “You see? We can’t give in. Like Davey said, if we throw in the towel, they won’t ever listen to us again. We have to show that we’re responsible and that we can take care of ourselves. We have to push them until we get what we deserve: a safe place to be ourselves. If they won’t give it to us willingly, then we make them. We can’t fold at the first sign of trouble. If Pulitzer tries to beat us down, we’ll stick it to him. If the Delancey’s try to beat us down, we’ll stick it to them, too. Today, we march. We get support. Tomorrow, we get the neighborhood involved. After that, we’ll need any help we can get. Like Davey said. So, who’s with us!?”

                They all remained sitting for a few moments, then Crutchie rose and joined them onstage. Katherine joined next. Then Finch. Mush. Albert. Race. Spot. Elmer. Specs. Hot Shot. Smalls. Mike. Ike. Sniper. Tommy Boy. Kid Blink. Buttons. JoJo. Romeo. Henry.

                “Good. Let’s do this.” As if on cue, the bell rang to start the day.

 

*** 

 

                Everything was going well so far. They had all gotten stares and dirty looks, of course, but nothing bad started happening until sixth period.

                “What the hell is that?” Tommy Boy froze when he heard the unmistakable voice of Morris Delancey behind him. Slowly, he turned around. He knew trying to run from them would do no good. However, there was no “them.” It was just Morris. Tommy Boy immediately started glancing around for an escape route. Morris was the brawn of the duo, while Oscar was the brains. Morris wasn’t _stupid_ , but he wasn’t intelligent either.

                “What’re you talking about, Morris?”

                “You know what I’m talking about, tranny.”

                “You seriously don’t have any better insults? No wonder Oscar considers himself the smart one.”

                When Morris charged and swung his arm to punch him in the face, Tommy Boy ducked and took off.

                “Faggot!”

                “Your insults suck!”

               

*** 

 

                Meanwhile, Katherine was dealing with Oscar.

                “So, you’re a queer?”

                “What do you want, Oscar? I’m just trying to get to class.”

                “And I’m just trying to get some answers.” When she tried to move away, he grabbed her shoulder and pushed her into the wall.

                “I don’t have to tell you anything.”

                “Well, you’re broadcasting it to the damn world like we want to see that disgusting shit.” He looked her up and down.

                “Then why are you asking me?”

                “Say, why do you think you like girls? You’ve always been a nice kid, Katherine. Then you got involved with those…rats. I bet that’s what’s gotten into you. Maybe you need some time around some _real_ men, instead of those trannies and faggots.” Oscar smirked and moved closer to her, his body almost touching hers.

                “Yeah, okay.” She replied, then tried to get away. It didn’t work. His body was then pressed up against hers and one hand had her wrists pinned to the wall, while the other was holding her hip. She could definitely kick his ass if she was able to, but there was little to do in the position she was in. She could also definitely scream for help, but all that would result in was Oscar getting a slap on the wrist and her getting written up for something like misbehavior or class disruption. High school, right? What she didn’t expect was Oscar ending up on the floor in front of her, the pain obvious on his face as he held his lower area. She looked up at whoever saved her. It was Sniper. “Oh, thank god.”

                “C’mon, let’s get out of here. I just found Tommy and he was running from Morris. We really should’ve worked out a plan to go to class in groups.” They both headed down the hallway quickly and met up with Tommy Boy around the corner.

                “Was Oscar messing with you?” Tommy Boy questioned.

                “Yeah, but Sniper got him where the sun doesn’t shine.” Katherine smiled and looked over at Sniper.

                “With my steel-toed boots,” Sniper added.

                “Damn.” Tommy Boy chuckled.

 

***

 

                “Mr. Davenport, may I speak to you outside?” Mrs. Robinson, the biology teacher, asked, an aggravated tone to her voice. Buttons winced at the title, then followed the teacher outside. “Mr. Davenport, what do you think you’re wearing?”

                “A skirt.” She said quietly, her focus on the floor.

                “Don’t you think that’s a bit inappropriate, considering the fact that you’re a boy?”

                “I’m not…”

                “What was that?”

                “I’m not a boy.”

                Mrs. Robinson exhaled loudly and pinched the bridge of her nose. “I think you should go change. You’re disrupting the class.”

                “You’re the one who stopped class just to drag me out here!” Buttons suddenly shouted.

                “Go change. Don’t make me write you up.”

                “Go ahead. My friends and I have a few words for Pulitzer anyway.”

                A few minutes later, a very angry Buttons was standing in the office with Katherine, Sniper, and Tommy Boy.

                “What happened?” Katherine questioned her.

                “Mrs. Robinson tried to make me change. You?”

                “Oscar Delancey tried to tell me I like girls because I don’t hang around ‘real men.’”

                “Like he’s a real man.” Buttons scoffed. “What about you guys?”

                “Morris tried to kick my ass.” Tommy Boy sat down and settled into a seat.

                “I kicked Oscar’s ass. Well, dick.” Sniper hopped up on the office counter, a smirk on her face.

                Suddenly, the office door flew open and in stormed Finch and Mush.

                “You guys, too?” Sniper asked.

                “We got kicked out.” Finch slung their backpack across the room and plopped down next to Tommy Boy.

                “This is ridiculous.” Mush sat up against the counter underneath Sniper and ran a hand over their face.

                “What, you didn’t expect it? Jack said-” Finch cut Buttons off.

                “Yeah, Jack said a lot.”

                “Don’t tell me you’re thinking of quitting again.” Tommy Boy groaned.

                “I’m not quitting. I’m already waist-deep in this revolution. We all are. We’re all probably about to get expelled, too.”

                “Expelled? He’s not going to expel us just yet.” Katherine replied.

                “Have you ever had to deal with that man? He’s unfair. We’ll be lucky if he gives us OCS.”

                At that moment, the door sprung open again. It was Oscar and Morris. Instead of walking in, Oscar held the door open while Morris went back around the corner. When he came back, he threw someone in and they landed on their face. The brothers chuckled, then closed the door and walked off. Mush reached over and pushed the person onto their back and everyone in the room gasped.

                “JoJo!” Tommy Boy fell to the floor and crawled over to him. “JoJo, hey, can you hear me?”

                “Yeah, I hear you. I got my ass kicked.” His voice was weak and raspy.

                “We can tell,” Finch commented unhelpfully. JoJo’s face was covered in so much blood that it was difficult for Tommy Boy to figure out where it was coming from. His shirt was ripped up and there was blood staining it as well. When Tommy Boy looked down JoJo’s body, he noticed that some of his fingers were bent in ways they shouldn’t have been. He cursed, then rushed over to the counter. He grabbed a few tissues and the large bottle of hand sanitizer.

                “This might hurt.” Tommy Boy warned. JoJo gulped and nodded. Tommy Boy began to clean off his face and everything was going well until the sanitizer reached a cut on JoJo’s lip. He flinched and tried to clench his fist, but it didn’t exactly work out since his fingers were broken. He let out a hoarse scream, then threw his good hand over his mouth to muffle the sound.

                “I hate this school,” Sniper muttered.

                The sound of a door hitting a wall made them all jump. Joseph Pulitzer stomped into the main office. “What is going on in here!?” He shouted.

                None of them responded or moved, even when the bell rang to signal the ending of sixth period. They simply stared at him. Tommy Boy looked him up and down, then got back to cleaning up JoJo’s face.

                “Let’s go. In my office.”  He pointed to a room in the back. “ _Now_.” They all looked at each other, then reluctantly got up and walked to the room. Pulitzer closed the door behind them, then sat down behind his desk. “I’ve been hearing complaints about you children all morning. You’re creating quite the disruption.”

                “Yeah, so we were told.” Mush crossed their arms over their chest.

                “Don’t talk back to me, boy.”

                “I’m not a boy. My shirt even says so. You’d think a principal could read.”

                “Excuse me?”

                “You heard what I said, Pulitzer.”

                Before Pulitzer could respond, the door to his office flew open and the rest of the group flooded in.

                “This explains everything. Is this one of your stunts, Miss Sullivan?” Pulitzer leaned back in his chair and rested his feet up on his desk.

                “It might be, _Miss_ Pulitzer.” Jack raised an eyebrow and leaned against the wall. “I’m here to get my friends. The newspaper club is having a meeting.”

                “You have no authority to just walk in here and take _my_ students whenever you wish, especially when I’m trying to discipline them.”

                “Oh, discipline them? Buttons, what were you doing? Sitting in class trying to learn?”

                “He was causing a disruption.”

                “ _She_. And by that logic, I’m guessing JoJo just ran into a wall, right?”

                “I’m sure he got what he deserved.” Pulitzer looked at the remnants of JoJo’s pansexual pride shirt in disgust.

                “Are you kidding me!? You can’t say that!” Spot tried to move toward him, but Hot Shot held him back.

                “I can and I did. Now, I expect to see _all_ of you in OCS tomorrow, or else there will be consequences.”

                “For what? And don’t give me any of that ‘causing a disruption’ crap. What is your real reason for doing this?” David stepped forward.

                “It’s wrong. It’s disgusting. There are only two genders, and you are either one or the other. If you were born a male, you are a male forever. Same thing if you were born female. Females were created to be with males, and males were created to be with females. It’s only natural. Anything else is an abomination.”

                They were all at a loss for words. The entire room was dead silent until it was filled with the sound of heavy breathing. They all looked over and saw Buttons frantically looking around, her hands shaking at her sides. When she noticed them all staring, she took off out of the room. David looked back at Pulitzer, then took off after her.

                “Good job, Joe. Way to protect your kids.” Albert spat.

                “You are my students. My only ‘kid’ is Katherine.”

                The entire room froze again. Katherine bit her lip and squeezed her eyes shut.

                “Kath? Is that true?” Elmer asked.

                Katherine reopened her eyes and nodded slowly. She looked over and saw Jack’s face tinted red and his fists clenching in his pockets. “Jack-”

                “Don’t.” He held out a hand to stop her. When it was clear that no one else was going to say anything, Smalls stepped up to where David used to be.

                “I say this is harassment. We could report you to the police.” She leaned forward and got in his face.

                “You could. Whether it would work or not is a different story.”

                “He has the chief in his corner, Smalls. We wouldn’t have much luck.” Crutchie said quietly.

                Smalls closed her eyes and huffed. “This isn’t the end, Pulitzer. I hope you know that. We won’t back down.”

                “We’ll see about that. OCS tomorrow.”

                They all angrily left the office and made their way to the clubroom, minus six group members.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (I apologize for this chapter and the next one. I love these kids I swear.)
> 
> (Also, if you don't know what OCS is, it stands for "on-campus suspension." I've also heard it called ISS, which is "in-school suspension." Basically, it's suspension...but you stay on school campus. You typically sit in a room, work on whatever assignments you have that day, and write sentences.)


	10. R.I.C.E.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> David helps Buttons, Jack sees a bit more than he wants to, and JoJo and Tommy Boy experience issues that aren't injuries.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warnings: Panic attack, swearing, mentions of nudity, injury, nsfw-ish???
> 
>  
> 
> (It gets kind of dirty in one part, but it doesn't go very far. Like, it's nothing descriptive, but...idk)

 

                “Buttons, slow down!” David called down the hallway. Buttons suddenly skidded to a stop in front of her locker. She was trying her hardest to unlock it, but she couldn’t get a good grasp on the lock with her shaky hands. “Hey, let me help.” David gingerly removed her hands from the lock. “What’s the code?”

                “It’s- Uh- 55…93…67. N-No. 95…67…56? 69…53…9…97? I-I can’t- Davey, I-” Buttons blinked rapidly and her pitch went higher as her breaths shortened.

                “Alright, hey, what do you need out of your locker?”

                “I-I-I-I need…I need…I- Headph-phones.”

                “Headphones? Do you need yours specifically or will mine do?” David reached around and pulled his headphones out of his bag. Buttons opened her mouth to speak, but no sound would come out. She held her arms out and made a grabbing motion toward the headphones. David smiled softly and put the headphones in her hands. “Is there somewhere you need to go?” Buttons nodded and pulled out her phone. She rapidly typed something out on the device, then turned the screen around to show David. “Alright, let’s go.”

                David led her down the hallway, then opened the door for her. They quickly made their way to the back of the school, but not quickly enough to make breathing even harder for her. Halfway to their destination, Buttons crumpled to her knees.

                “D-Davey…I can’t.” She brought one hand up to clutch her chest, and she brought the other one up to tear at her hair.

                “Do you want me to carry you?” Buttons looked up to see if David was serious. He was. She contemplated it for a few seconds, then nodded. David bent down and picked her up with ease. If she were able, Buttons would’ve made a joke about him being stronger than he looked. David took off rapidly. In seconds, they were at the auditorium. David opened the door with his foot and rushed into the large, cold room. “Where do we need to go? Seats? Sound booth? Onstage? Backstage? Prop room?” Buttons shook her head until David said “prop room.” David quickly made his way to the stage. He went up the stairs, behind the curtains, then into the prop room. He sat her down against the wall, then sat down in front of her. “Do you need me to do anything?”

                “J-Just stay. P-Please?” She put the headphones over her ears, then fumbled to plug the end into her phone.

                Like the lock, David took it and did it for her. He saw her music application was already pulled up, so he asked, “ _Cats_?” She nodded in response. “Which song?”

                “J-Just shuffle it.”

                David hit the shuffle button, then put the phone on the ground. Buttons reached forward and grabbed David’s hands in hers. When David softly drug his thumbs across her skin, her hands began to steady. David watched as her breathing gradually slowed down and a tired smile stretched across her face. Eventually, she slid one of her hands out of David’s and lifted the headphones off of her head, then set them down next to her phone.

                “Thanks, Dave.”

                “No problem, Buttons. Are you alright?”

                “Not really.” She laughed. “But, I can’t give up, you know? I’m not as out as I’d like to be, but now I am and I’m kind of dealing with the things that everyone else experienced months or years ago. And I’m not trying to say that everyone else isn’t bothered by it or anything like that. I’m just saying I’ve never had this kind of stuff directed at me.”

                “You know we won’t blame you or be upset with you if you don’t follow through with us, right?”

                “No, I want to do this! I do. It’s just…different. You guys are all so accepting. And my mother, well, she might not understand it completely, but she’s trying. I just haven’t experienced the negative side of being myself until now, but it is definitely something I believe I need to experience. But, on the other hand…” Buttons trailed off and stood up on weak, trembling legs. She walked over to a shelf and grabbed an oversized metal can, then sat back down where she was before. She pulled a multi-colored ribbon out of the can and began playing with it. “ _Cats_ was the first musical I ever saw. We had it on VHS. I used to watch it all the time. Now, it reminds me of when I was a child. Before I figured out that somedays I didn’t feel like a boy. Before my dad died. Before I found out he cheated on my mom. Before we had to move _here._ Before I was exposed to the real world. Back when it was easier. That’s why it’s so special to me.” She threw the ribbon into the air and smiled as it fell down on top of them both. “Have you ever seen it?”

                “I’ve seen the filmed version once or twice.” David smiled back at her.

                “Mr. Mistoffelees has always been my favorite character. I don’t know why. I mean, I love just about all of the characters, but Misto has always been special.” Buttons gathered up the ribbon and put it back in the can, then stood back up. “Hey, do you know how to use a sound booth?”

                David’s eyebrows creased in confusion. “I’m sure I could figure it out.”

                “Have you ever used an auxiliary cable?”

                “Oh yeah. Every day almost.”

                “In that case, it’ll be easy!” She grabbed his hand and lifted him up, then pulled him out of the room.

                “What’re we doing, may I ask?” He chuckled.

                “Reliving my childhood. Here, take my phone. You go get set up and I’ll go dig out my slippers.”

                He took her phone and went up to the sound booth. David was still concerned about earlier, but if this was going to make Buttons happy, then he was all for it.

 

*** 

 

                After leaving Pulitzer’s office, Jack had stormed outside.

                “Jack, wait!” Katherine grabbed Jack’s shoulder to try to stop him.

                “What the _hell_ , Katherine!?” Jack whipped around to face her, the anger obvious in his eyes.

                “Jack-”

                “Pulitzer’s your father!? Why didn’t you tell us!?”

                “Well, I don’t see you spilling your every-”

                “I can’t believe this. You’ve been telling him all of our plans, haven’t you?”

                “Jack, you’ve known me since-”

                “Have you been _spying_ on us?”

                “Would you let me just-”

                “We’ve all told you our secrets, Katherine. We’ve told you all of our problems and issues, and this entire time you’ve been double-crossing us to your father. Your f-”

                “Shut up! For once in your life, shut the hell up! I don’t know where you’re getting this from! Not everyone has the most open-minded adult on campus as a parent, Jack! I hate saying things like this, but if you think OCS is bad, then imagine what’s going to happen when I get home! I’m putting my entire _life_ on the line here, and so are some of the others! Even you know that! I never told you about my father because I knew this exact situation was going to happen! Oh, and since you care so much about my personal life, here.” Katherine took her phone out of her pocket and furiously punched in her password, hit a few buttons, then shoved the device into Jack’s hands. Jack looked at her, pursed his lips, then looked down at the phone. A photo was on the screen. It was Katherine next to another girl. He raised an eyebrow.

                “Keep scrolling,” Katherine said, her voice softer than before.

                The next photo was them smiling at each other. The next one was them…kissing? His eyebrows raised in realization, but he kept scrolling. The next one was them with a little kid. Wait. That wasn’t just any little kid.

                “Is…Is that Les? Davey’s brother?” Before she could answer, he scrolled to the next photo. “Oh god! Oh my god, take it back! I need to bleach my eyes!” He tossed the phone back to her and she looked at the screen.

                “Oh, I forgot about that.” She mumbled casually. “Anyway, that’s my girlfriend. Sarah Jacobs. Davey’s sister.”

                “Oh dear god, I just saw Davey’s sister _naked_. Why me!?” He rubbed at his eyes dramatically with the heels of his palms.

                “You wanted to know my business!”

                “Yeah, but I didn’t want to _see_ hers! Oh god, I can’t get it out of my head!”

                “Christ, Jack. It’s a singular breast.”

                “It’s Davey’s sister’s breast! Keywords: ‘Davey’s’ and ‘sister!’”

                “Oh my god, keep your voice down. We should get back to the club room. Everyone else is probably rioting at this point.”

                “You need to take over my job or something. I don’t know if I can focus now.”

                “Idiot.” Katherine scoffed and playfully rolled her eyes.

 

*** 

 

                “My shoulder hurts,” JoJo whined.

                “It’s dislocated. I told you that a few minutes ago.” Tommy Boy finally finished cleaning the blood off of JoJo’s face.

                “I know. I was just pointing it out.”

                “Alright, here’s the issue. Your shoulder is dislocated, your right index, pinky, and ring fingers are broken, and your ankle is sprained.” Tommy Boy rested his left hip on the bathroom counter and leaned on it.

                “So, what do you suggest?”

                “I suggest that you go to the doctor.”

                “But why go to the doctor when I have a perfectly good one right here?” JoJo smiled.

                “I’m not a doctor, Jo. I’m a medical student. You know I hate suggesting this, but I honestly think you should go see a doctor. A _real_ doctor.”

                “And if I refuse?” JoJo cocked an eyebrow.

                Tommy Boy rolled his eyes and groaned. He didn’t want to do it himself, but he knew JoJo hated going to the doctor and would therefore never get himself checked out. “There might be complications.”

                “I’m already having complications.”

                “That’s not what I- Okay. Fine. Whatever.” Tommy Boy moved his medical bag to the floor, then pushed down on JoJo’s chest to make him lay down on the counter. “Don’t you dare wiggle your eyebrows at me.” Tommy Boy said in response to JoJo performing said action. Tommy Boy grabbed JoJo’s wrist and moved his arm into position. “Are you ready?”

                “As I’ll ever be.” There was a slightly nervous tone to his voice, but he still smiled up at the other boy. Tommy Boy glared at him, then slowly pulled his arm until he heard the sound of the shoulder returning to its original position. “Woo! That wasn’t as bad as I expected it to be.”

                “I’m not done. With you, I mean.” Once again, JoJo wiggled his eyebrows. “I’m going to break your other fingers.”

                “Is that a threat?” JoJo lowered his voice a little and smirked.

                Tommy Boy clenched his jaw in frustration and…well, something else is all I’m going to say. “It’s a promise.” He grumbled through gritted teeth. Suddenly, JoJo shot up into a sitting position. “Are you okay?” Tommy Boy questioned, his aggravation fading away. Instead of a smartass response, JoJo simply nodded with widened eyes. When Tommy Boy started to look him up and down, JoJo grabbed his jacket off of the counter and placed it on his lap. “…What are you doing?”

                “I’m…cold?”

                “Then why don’t you put it on?”

                “My, uh, lap is cold. And my fingers are broken. Putting on a jacket is a bit hard when your fingers are broken, doc.” JoJo nodded quickly as if trying to convince himself to believe his own excuse.

                “…Right.” Tommy Boy shook his head, then got to work on JoJo’s fingers. He desperately hoped that JoJo couldn’t see the blush on his face that had been there since JoJo started teasing him. When he looked back up, he noticed that JoJo’s face was red as well, but that could’ve easily been because of the pain…right? “Well, I think I’m done. Oh, wait. Your ankle. Almost forgot.” Tommy Boy cleared his throat.

                “R.I.C.E., right?” JoJo almost whispered, not looking up.

                “Yeah. Plus, crutches if you plan on walking.”

                “I sprain my ankle almost yearly. I’ve got it figured out.”

                “Are you sure?”

                “Yeah.”

                “Alright.”

                They stayed there in silence until Tommy Boy cleared his throat again and started putting his supplies up.

                “So, see you back at the club room, yeah?” JoJo asked, hopping down off of the counter.

                “You sure you don’t need help walking?”

                “Yeah, I’m sure.”

                “Then, I’ll see you there.” Tommy Boy grabbed his bag and swiftly left the bathroom. Once he was outside, he softly threw his head back against the wall and groaned, then closed his eyes and slid a hand over his face. “ _The things he does to me_.”

                Meanwhile, JoJo limped into a bathroom stall and fell onto the toilet seat. He threw the jacket onto the floor and scrambled to unbutton his pants. When he finally unbuttoned his pants, he roughly threw his head back against the wall and groaned, then closed his eyes and slid his okay hand into his jeans. “ _The things he does to me_.”

 

*** 

 

                David and Buttons returned to see the club room in utter chaos. It sounded like they were arguing, but it didn’t seem to be too bad.

                “OCS my ass. I’m not going. I’ll file a fucking _lawsuit_ if I have to.” Smalls growled.

                “Yeah, I agree. This is ridiculous.” Mush leaned forward and rested their head on their table.

                “They’ll just come and find us.” Specs muttered.

                “They’ll have to pry me out of my seat then. Wow, that’s the first time I’ve said that.” Smalls replied.

                “He’ll expel us.”

                “Alright, fine. Davey, what do you think we should do?” The entire room quieted down as the attention was turned to David.

                “I, uh…I personally think we should go to OCS. Before you guys start to yell at me, here’s why. Specs is right. If we don’t show, Pulitzer will just expel us. That won’t do us any good.”

                “So what? We just give in?” Spot chimed in.

                “No, wait. That isn’t what he’s getting at. It’s the next step of the plan. We have to get the neighborhood involved.” Jack explained.

                “Exactly. We have tonight and tomorrow to get people on our side. The day after is when we rally.”


	11. Pickles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> David invites Jack over for dinner, Tommy Boy experiences some personal issues, and Katherine has to deal with her father.
> 
>  
> 
> (More accurately: The chapter where the author maybe makes things happen a little too quickly but who cares because it's cute)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warnings: Implied bad childhood, homophobia (big time; q slur and f slur), swearing, nsfw-ish, misgendering (nothing too bad), period mention (quite a bit more than a mention but uhhhhh), terrible parenting.
> 
>  
> 
> (Did all of this come too soon in the plot? Maybe. Do I care? Kind of.)
> 
> (Also, I know what the thing with Tommy Boy, Buttons, and JoJo seems like at first, but just give it a few seconds.)

 

                “I can’t believe I’m doing this. Do I look okay? Is my hair messed up? Is my shirt too wrinkled? Should I have dressed better? What if they don’t like me? What if-”

                “Jack, _relax_. You look fine. They’ll like you. I promise.” David, Jack, and Les stood outside David’s house, waiting for someone to answer the door. David had invited Jack over for dinner, and to also see if his parents would support their plans.

                “Are you sure? Because-” Before Jack could finish his sentence, the door was opened. In the doorway stood a woman Jack immediately recognized as David’s older sister Sarah. On the outside, he was all smiles, but on the inside, all he could think was, “ _Don’t think of the nude. Don’t think of the nude. Don’t think of the nude._ ”

                “Sarah!” Les shouted. He ran up to her and attached himself to her waist.

                “Hey, Les! Miss me?” She bent down slightly and picked him up, then placed him upon her shoulders.

                “Yeah! Did you miss me?” Les giggled as he was lifted up.

                “Of course! Now, how about you go help set the table? I need to talk to our brother.”

                “Alright!”

                Sarah lifted Les off of her shoulders and put him on the ground. He immediately took off into the house. “I missed you, David.” She reached forward and gave him a hug.

                “I missed you as well.” He returned the hug, then pulled away after a few seconds. “This is my friend, Jack. Jack, this is Sarah.”

                “Nice to meet you. You’re the Jack I heard about over the summer, I suppose?”  Sarah questioned, sticking her hand out in front of her.

                “T’would be me. Nice to meet you, too.” Jack took her hand and shook it.

                A few seconds later, Sarah looked behind her, then closed the door and stepped outside with them. Her smile had faded. “David, what’s this about your ribs being broken?”

                “They’re just bruised. And they’re getting better.”

                “’They’re just-’ David. That’s not the point.”

                “I fell.”

                “Yeah, right. Who do I have to kill?”

                “You’re not killing anyone, Sarah.”

                “Oh, I will. Who was it? Actually, I know you won’t tell me. Jack, do you know?”

                Jack’s eyes widened and he looked back and forth between the two.

                “Jack, don’t tell her.”

                “Jack, c’mon.”

                “So help me, if you tell her.”

                “Jack.”

                “ _Jack_.”

                “Jaaaack.”

                “Jack!”

                “Ja-”

                “Oscar and Morris Delancey!”

                David’s jaw dropped in disbelief, while Sarah smiled.

                “I can’t believe you, Jack.” David’s tone sounded angry, but he really wasn’t.

                “Bless you, Jack. You’re my new brother. Come meet the family.” Sarah threw an arm around Jack’s shoulders and led him inside the house. “Oh, yeah. They aren’t happy about the OCS thing today. The school called earlier.” She said over her shoulder.

                “Great,” David muttered under his breath.

                Jack took in the house as Sarah walked him toward wherever she was taking him. There were photos of the family all over the walls. Some were professional, and others seemed to be selfies that were printed out. Each photo had a label on the frame that detailed when and where the photo was taken. It was strange to see photos of younger David with long, curly brown hair, but most of the photos of him seemed to be more recent. Also framed was artwork that all of the children had made over the years, including some of David’s photographs. The greyscale photos of barren trees, rocky trails, and cloudy skies starkly contrasted the bright and colorful creations around them. Colored pencil markings on the doorway to the living room caught his attention next. It only took him a few seconds to understand that they marked the heights of the children over the years. Seeing all of this nearly put a lump in his throat. He was happy that David grew up like this, but he was also jealous that he hadn’t. When they walked into the dining room, David’s parents had just finished setting all of the food down.

                After they ate dinner, David cast Jack a nervous glance, then cleared his throat. “Mom, Pop, I have something to tell you.”

                “If it’s about you getting OCS, then we know.” Meyer, David’s father, said sternly.

                “It…has something to do with that.”

                “What’s gotten into you? We thought public school would be good for you, David. We thought it’d give you the chance to make more friends and have better opportunities.” Esther, David’s mother, didn’t sound angry. She sounded confused.

                “I have! I swear! I honestly have about twenty friends now. Actually…twenty-two, including Jack. Me getting OCS has nothing to do with them. Well, it kind of does, but it wasn’t their fault. It wasn’t mine, either.”  His parents looked at each other, then looked back at him, a silent gesture for him to continue. “My friends and I want to start a GSA. A Gender and Sexuality Alliance. We’re receiving a bit of, uh, backlash. That’s also why we got OCS.”

                Jack narrowed his eyes and raised his hand slightly. “May I explain?”

                “Go ahead.” Meyer nodded.

                “Thank you, sir. You see, Davey’s telling the truth, but he’s leaving quite a bit out. Our principal, Joseph Pulitzer, won’t let us have a GSA because he’s transphobic, homophobic, and about a million other ‘-phobics.’ He gave us OCS because we wore pride clothes to school.”

                At the other end of the table, Sarah started choking on her pasta. “That’s bullshit!” She said in between coughs.

                “Sarah! Language.” Esther whispered.

                “What? It is!”

                “I agree,” Les added.

                “What else did he do?”

                “Well, he called us a lot of things including ‘vile’ and ‘disgusting.’ Other than that, he hasn’t really done anything…yet.” Jack left out Oscar and Morris for David’s sake.

                “Where does he live? I’m egging his house. Les, you want to help me?”

                “Can we dye the eggs rainbow?”

                “Yes!”

                “Sarah, you aren’t egging anyone’s house.” Meyer sighed.

                “Ah, Dad, c’mon. You can’t tell me the man doesn’t deserve it.”

                “I…He does, but-”

                “Ha! See?”

                “It would be damaging private property, Sarah. You could always send him dirty glances from a distance.”

                “Wait! That’s it! The police! You could get the police involved! I mean, I’m sure he’s violating a law or something.”

                “He has the law in his corner. We wouldn’t have much luck. Which brings us to the big question…” Jack trailed off and looked at David.

                “We’re planning a peaceful protest on the day after tomorrow. We’re going to gather supporters in front of the high school and show Pulitzer that we’re serious about this. If he doesn’t let us have a GSA after that, then…we’re getting all of the boroughs involved. We need to know if you’ll join us.” David didn’t look up at his parents until he finished speaking.

                “That’s a lot to handle, David. It’s also very dangerous. Is it just you kids or are there others?” Esther questioned.

                “It’s us and my mother so far, but we’re working on it. A few of us are going around the neighborhood tonight to find supporters.” Jack explained.

                Meyer looked at his wife and raised his eyebrows. She responded with a sigh and a nod. “We’ll join you, son.” Meyer smiled.

                “Y-You will? Oh my God, thank you!” David bounced up, ran over, and hugged his parents.

                “I will, too!” Sarah and Les exclaimed at the same time.

                “We’ll…see about that, Les.” Meyer chuckled.

                “May Jack and I be excused?” David asked.

                “Yes, you may.” Esther smiled.

                David left the dining room with Jack in tow. Once they were farther into the house, they quietly started celebrating. Once they were done, David led Jack upstairs and into a room Jack immediately knew was David’s. There were strings of fairy lights hung from the ceiling and his [photographs](https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1_XicNw7FCmx7eC5OiLU2ZutR-4b-XbKAvCDop483PUc/edit?usp=sharing) were attached to them with clothespins. His comforter was black and white with rainbow paint splotches across the middle. His headboard had a bookcase built into it and it was filled with books. That obviously wasn’t enough since his nightstand was also filled with books and there were individual stacks scattered about the room. He had his own TV on top of his dresser and a small jar labeled “David’s Camera Fund” was beside it filled halfway with coins. In front of his window was a keyboard. The letters of the keys were written on in Sharpie.

                “Dude, your parents are awesome. And Sarah’s the breast- _the best!_  I meant the best. She’s the best.” Jack wanted to become one with the floor.

                “…Thanks?” David’s eyebrows creased with confusion as he sat down on his bed.

                “So, uh, do you play?” Jack lightly ran his fingers across the keys of the keyboard. He tried to learn how to play, but he couldn’t grasp it. He had always been better at the ukulele and the guitar.

                “I do. That belongs to Les, though. He just doesn’t have anywhere to put it, so it’s in here. Mine’s downstairs. It’s much bigger.” Jack turned around and gave David one of his signature smirks. “That’s not what I meant.” David glared at him. Jack chuckled, then carried on. He turned his attention to the photographs.

                “Whoa, these are a bit different from your usual shots.” The photos he would usually show Jack were like the ones in the picture frames downstairs. The ones in his bedroom were photos of buildings, signs, and various other objects. There were also the usual shots of nature, but they were in full color.

                “Are…Are they bad?”

                “No, Davey, they’re amazing.” David couldn’t help but stare as Jack looked at his photos with that bright smile of his on his face. Jack kept giving him compliments, but he had zoned out. A small smile appeared on his face as he watched him move around his room. All he wanted was to be able to run his hands through Jack’s hair and kiss him. He wanted to hold him…or have Jack hold him. He didn’t really care which one it was. He wanted…Jack. “Dave!”

                David nearly fell off of his bed. “Huh!?”

                “You were staring, nerd.” Jack chuckled.

                “S-Sorry.” David stuttered, looking down to try to hide the reddening of his face.

                “It’s alright. Hey, where was this one taken? It’s creepy. I like it.” Jack pointed at a certain photo. David got up and walked over to where Jack was. It was a darkened photo of two statues. It was taken from an angle where it looked like the statues were staring directly into the camera.

                “Have you ever read _To Kill a Mockingbird_?”

                “Yeah. We had to in middle school.”

                “Well, there’s this museum in Monroeville, Alabama that focuses on it, the author, and the city’s history. They actually put on a play version of the novel at the museum. The first act takes place outside on a set of the town, and the second act takes place inside the giant courtroom. A lot of these photos are actually from the museum.”

                “Whoa, that’s cool.” Jack continued walking. When he finally looked at all of them, he frowned. “Is this all of them?”

                “There used to be a lot more, but they were of my ex-best friends and I couldn’t really bring myself to look at them every day. That’s why there are so many empty spaces.”

                “Well, we’ll just have to take more, won’t we?” Jack walked over to David’s bed and flopped down on it unceremoniously. He then let out a loud gasp. “Davey! I have an idea!”

                “What is it?” David smiled as he sat down next to Jack’s outstretched body.

                “What if we center next week’s newspaper around the protest? You can take photos and we can put them in there! Pulitzer would have our asses, but who cares?”

                “C’mon, Jack, my photos aren’t really that good.”

                “Uh, yeah, they are! You don’t have to do it if you don’t want to, but you have to admit that it’s a good idea.”

                “It is a good idea. I…Yeah, I’ll do it.”

                “You sure?”

                “Yeah.” David gave him a thumbs-up. He looked Jack up and down, then stiffened in hesitation. He bit his lip in thought, then finally made a decision. He readjusted himself to where he was lying next to Jack instead of sitting next to him. Jack looked David up and down. He wanted to run his hands through his hair and kiss him. He wanted to hold him…or have David hold him. He didn’t really care which one it was. He wanted…David. “Jack!”

                Jack snapped out of it and blinked rapidly. “Yeah?”

                “Talk about me staring,” David smirked.

                “It’s not my fault you’re so handsome.” The words escaped Jack’s mouth before he could stop them. He immediately clenched his jaw and closed his eyes.

                “You…You think I’m handsome?”

                “I, uh…yeah.”

                “Well, I think you’re more handsome than I am.” David decided at that moment to throw all caution out the window and go for it.

                Jack reopened his eyes. “That’s not possible.”

                “Yeah, it is!”

                “Nope. You are the most handsome person I’ve ever laid my eyes on.”

                “ _That’s_ not possible, because _you_ are the most handsome person I’ve ever laid my eyes on.”

                As they talked, they gradually moved closer to each other. When they were mere centimeters away from each other, they stopped talking. They stared into each other’s widened eyes until Jack brought a hand up to cup the side of David’s face.

                “Is this okay?” Jack whispered.

                “Yeah,” David whispered back.

                “Can I…?”

                “Yeah.”

                Jack hesitated, then softly pressed his lips against David’s. They slowly moved their lips together until Jack moved his hand up to David’s hair and ran his fingers through it, which caused David to whimper quietly and involuntarily throw a leg around Jack’s waist. He felt Jack smirk into the kiss and he would’ve rolled his eyes if they were open. When they began to quicken their pace, David accidentally bit Jack’s bottom lip. He planned on breaking the kiss and apologizing, but the way Jack moaned and pulled him closer made him feel a lot less guilty about it. After a few more minutes of biting lips and running hands through hair, they pulled away at the same time.

                “I feel like a bad teen fiction cliché.” Jack smiled.

                “Oh, yeah. Big time.” David chuckled.

                “I wish I didn’t have to go home.”

                “We could ask if you can stay.”

                “I don’t have any clothes.”

                “Is that an issue?” David raised an eyebrow and smirked.

                “Oh my God, you nerd! I meant for school tomorrow!”

                “If you can get ready quickly, I could always drive you by your house in the morning.”

                “Yeah, that sounds good.”

 

*** 

 

                Tommy Boy, Buttons, JoJo, Mike, Ike, and Albert were all sitting at Jacobi’s Deli as they took a break from recruiting supporters. So far they had only gotten five supporters, but at least they had gotten some.

                “Hey, Jacobi, c’mere!” Albert called the man over to their table.

                “Are you boys finally ready to order?” Jacobi sighed, crossing his arms over his chest. Buttons and Ike winced at the word “boys,” but neither of them said anything.

                “Nah. We have a question. We’re having a protest the day after tomorrow. We want to know if you’ll help us out.”

                “A protest? What exactly are you protesting?”

                “Pulitzer won’t let the school have a GSA,” Mike explained.

                “A GSA?”

                “Gender and Sexuality Alliance.”

                “Ah.”

                “So, will you help us?” JoJo asked.

                “I’ll think about it. Now I have a question. Are you boys…kids going to order anything?”

                At that moment, Tommy Boy came back to the table from the bathroom. He had been in there for almost twenty minutes and the others had started to become concerned.

                “You alright, Tommy?” Buttons questioned.

                “I, uh, I have to go. I just remembered that I…I have an assload of homework.” Tommy Boy answered.

                “Are you sure? You look a bit pale.” Ike’s voice was laced with concern.

                “Mhmm!” He nodded frantically, the nervousness and fear in his eyes betraying his claims.

                “Alright, let’s roll.” JoJo pulled his keys out of his pocket and stood. He had driven Tommy Boy and Buttons there, so the three of them had to leave together.

                “Bye!” The other three called out in unison. They said their goodbyes, then left the deli.

                “I’m really sorry about this.” Tommy Boy said quietly, his focus on the ground.

                “Hey, it’s no problem. Don’t worry about it.” JoJo replied.

                When they got to the car, Buttons stopped Tommy Boy from opening the car door. “Babe is it…?” She trailed off, but Tommy Boy knew what she was talking about. He nodded and tears began to spill over onto his cheeks. “Oh, Tommy, c’mere.” She held her arms out in front of her and he nearly crashed into her.

                “I hate this.” He whimpered into her shoulder.

                “I know you do, baby. I do, too. It’s going to be okay.” Buttons rubbed her hands up and down his back. “Why don’t we go to my house? It’s much closer than yours is. My sister should have anything you need.” On the other side of the car, JoJo’s eyes widened in realization. Tommy Boy slowly pulled away and nodded, wiping away his tears. Buttons opened the back right door and let Tommy Boy awkwardly slip in first. The entire drive to Buttons’ house was silent until JoJo cleared his throat and glanced in the rearview mirror to see Buttons pressing soft kisses to Tommy Boy’s face.

                “So, uh, how long have you two been together?” JoJo questioned, hoping his voice didn’t sound as broken as he felt.

                “A few weeks now.” Buttons responded.

                “Ah. That’s…that’s rad.” JoJo cringed when his voice cracked on the last word. Hopefully, they wouldn’t notice. (They did, but they chose not to say anything about it.) When they got to Buttons’ house, JoJo simply pulled up beside the driveway. “Well, here we are.”

                “You aren’t coming in?” Buttons asked with a frown on her face.

                “I can if you want me to.”

                “Yeah, come on.” JoJo pulled into the driveway and shut the car off. The three of them walked into the house and made their way upstairs. “My mother is at my sister’s football practice, so we’ll have a few hours of peace and quiet. Go wash up, hon. We’ll be in my room when you get done. Take all the time you need.” Buttons kissed Tommy Boy on the forehead, then sent him on his way. “Follow me.” She said to JoJo. They headed into Buttons’ room and gathered some clothes from her drawers, then headed downstairs. They tossed the clothes in the dryer, then moved into the kitchen. The moment they made it back upstairs with snacks and warm clothes stacked in their arms, they heard the water shut off. Buttons set the warm clothes down in front of the bathroom door, then joined JoJo in her room. A few minutes later, Tommy Boy entered the room with the new clothes on. Buttons held up a bag of dill pickle flavored chips and softly shook it.

                “Oh my God, you’re a blessing!” Tommy Boy ran over, jumped on the bed, grabbed the bag, opened it, and had a chip in his mouth in less than five seconds.

                “Oh, just wait.” Buttons smiled and turned on her TV. She already had it on the DVD setting, so the disc that was in there immediately went to the main menu. It was _The Twilight Zone_.

                “You bought it!?” Tommy Boy gasped.

                “Yup!”

                “Babe, I love you so much!” Tommy Boy leaned over and planted a huge, messy kiss on Buttons’ cheek.

                “I love you, too, hon.” Buttons giggled. They both slid up against the headboard and settled into each other while Tommy Boy spoke along with the introduction to the show word for word. Meanwhile, JoJo sat on the other end of the bed feeling very uncomfortable. He wanted to leave and forget his entire existence, but he didn’t want to be rude.

                Tommy Boy was enjoying his show, but he couldn’t ignore the way JoJo was acting. He grabbed the remote from the other side of Buttons and paused the episode. “Jo, are you okay? You don’t look comfortable.”

                “Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine. I should probably get going, though. It’s getting pretty late.” JoJo stood up and made his way to the door.

                Buttons and Tommy Boy shared a quick look. “Wait!”

                “Yeah?”

                “We need to ask you something.” JoJo thought for a moment, then leaned against the wall and gestured for Tommy Boy to go ahead. “We were wondering if…if you like us.”

                “…Of course I like you. You’re my friends. Why wouldn’t-”

                “No, we mean like… _like_ like us.”

                “Is it that obvious?” JoJo laughed pathetically and looked down at his feet.

                “A little, yeah. I mean, as much as you like to tease, you get really blushy around both of us, and you’ve been acting weird since you found out we were dating earlier. Not to mention what happened in the bathroom the other day.”

                “What happened in the bathroom?” Buttons questioned.

                “He was teasing me, so I snapped at him and he got a boner.”

                “O-Oh my God, you saw that?” JoJo hid his face in his hands and slid down the wall until he was sitting on the floor.

                “It was kind of hard _not_ to notice. You literally put your jacket on your lap and tried to say that your lap was cold.”

                “He did?” Buttons asked, stifling a laugh.

                “Oh yeah. He also tried to use his broken fingers as an excuse for not being able to put on the jacket.”

                “ _JoJo_. You couldn’t come up with anything better than that?”

                “I can’t just pull decent lies out of my ass, Buttons! Those things take time to think through a-and formulate and stuff! Now, hurry up and kick me out of your house before I have a literal mental breakdown.” When JoJo didn’t hear a response, he peeked through his hands and saw Buttons kneeling in front of him. Buttons slid her hand into JoJo’s and laced their fingers together.

                “May I?” She whispered, her eyes on his lips instead of his eyes. JoJo’s widened eyes flew over to Tommy Boy. The boy on the bed gave him a smile and a thumbs-up. He returned his attention to Buttons and nodded, closing his eyes. She leaned in and kissed him for a few seconds, then pulled away. JoJo reopened his eyes to see Tommy Boy, still on the bed, holding his arms out and beckoning him over. JoJo stood up and crawled onto the bed, falling into place beside Tommy Boy. Tommy Boy leaned over and gave JoJo a kiss as well, except his lasted a bit longer than Buttons’.

                “Ew, babe, gross. Your mouth probably tastes like pickle chips.” Buttons laughed, returning to her original position on the other side of Tommy Boy.

                “I like pickle chips.” JoJo shrugged.

                “See! I’m not the only one!” Tommy Boy reached in the chip bag and threw one at Buttons’ forehead.

                “I just cannot get behind the idea of pickle-flavored chips.” Buttons picked the chip up and threw it into Tommy Boy’s open mouth.

                “You haven’t even tried them!” Tommy Boy exclaimed while he chewed.

                “I’ve kissed you enough to know what they taste like. Believe me, I don’t like them.”

                “Whatever. Suit yourself. More for me and Jo, then.” Tommy Boy smiled and plucked another chip out of the bag, then handed it to JoJo, who gladly accepted it.

 

*** 

 

                Katherine nervously paced around her room as she waited for her father to get home. What was he going to say? More importantly, what was he going to _do_? Her father might have been strict, but he would never put his hands on her. However…she couldn’t help but remember the time he caught her singing along to a song about a woman loving another woman. She had been young when it happened, but she wasn’t stupid. She was never naïve, even as a child. She had always been in tune with reality, even though no one told her. She might not have had all of the facts, but she always knew some fragment of the truth. She knew that a fairy didn’t take away her teeth while she slept. She knew that there was never a monster created from her sins under her bed, or in her closet. She knew that an old man dressed in red didn’t sneak into her house and leave her gifts. She knew that babies didn’t come from storks. However, she didn’t know where her teeth disappeared to. She didn’t know what happened to her sins. She didn’t know where her father would hide her gifts until Christmas Day. She didn’t know exactly how babies were created. Most importantly, she didn’t know why being gay was “wrong.” That’s all she was ever told. She was given the biblical reasons, of course, but…why?

                _Katherine had the radio on as she did her homework, and the song had started playing._

_“Do you know what that song is about?” Her father questioned, peeking over his newspaper at her. His tone was calm and curious, but his eyes blazed with fury and danger._

_“Yes, I do.” She answered simply. It was an honest answer without a hint of an attitude or resentment._

_“You do know that that isn’t right, correct? What she is singing about?” His calm tone grew suspicious and aggravated._

_“Yes…that’s what you say, anyway.” She didn’t know why she said it, but she knew immediately that it wasn’t the right answer._

_“What I say? It’s what God says.” His voice started getting loud and stern. He folded his newspaper and tossed it onto the table in front of him._

_“Right, but…why?”_

_“What do you mean?”_

_“Why doesn’t He like gay people? They haven’t done anything wrong. They’ve simply fallen in love, just like the rest of us.”_

_“What did you just say?” He rose out of his chair but didn’t make a move to walk toward her._

_“I said-”_

_“Are you questioning His word!?”_

_“N-No, sir, I just-”_

_“God’s word is not to be questioned! If He says that man shall not lie with man as with a woman, then that is the law and you need to respect that! Homosexuals will gain nothing in this life except for damnation and it is their own faults. They chose to stray from God’s path, and they will pay for it when He decides that it is time for them to stop polluting the earth with their sinfulness. Now, I want you to go upstairs to your room and pray. I want you to beg God to forgive you for questioning Him and I don’t want you to come back down until you have learned your lesson, you hear me?” Katherine frantically nodded and scrambled to gather her work and supplies off of the desk. She quickly left the room but was stopped by her father before she could reach the stairwell. “If I ever hear you singing that song or so much as listening to it again, there will be a punishment far worse than what I’m giving you now. And if I ever find out that you have chosen to love women instead of men, you will no longer be considered a child of mine.”_

                Katherine was snapped out of her memory by the sound of the front door hitting the wall, then being slammed shut.  “Katherine!” Pulitzer shouted from downstairs. His voice was so loud that she swore she felt the floor tremor beneath her feet. She took a deep breath, then headed downstairs. “How could you!?” He roared as soon as he saw her. “I told you! I told you what would happen, and yet you still disobeyed me. Disobeyed _Him!_ ”

                “You told me that I would no longer be considered your child if I _chose_ this. I didn’t choose this.” She responded quietly.

                “Yes, you did! You chose to become an abomination, just like those…those...those queers and faggots you stay around all of the time! That’s it. They’re to blame, aren’t they? Those sickening creatures will rue the day they decided to abandon their creator. I will-”

                “Leave my friends out of this! None of us chose to be like this! Do you think I _chose_ to be hated by you!? It’s just the way things are, and if you don’t like it then go ahead and tell me what you’ve been dying to tell me since I stepped foot in your office this afternoon.” Katherine finally snapped.

                “…Repent. Ask for forgiveness and you can still be my daughter. It’s that simple.”

                That wasn’t exactly what she was expecting. “Oh, and the others can’t? What makes me so special, huh?”

                “Just ask Him for forgiveness, Katherine. You can still get to Heaven if you just ask Him to forgive you.”

                “Father, I…I can’t. I have a girlfriend. I can’t just ignore who I am and break her heart in the process. So, if I’m losing a piece of me, maybe I don’t want Heaven.” Katherine shrugged and tried to push down the lump in her throat.

                “Then get out.”

                “Father-”

                “I am not your father. Get out of my house!”

                Katherine felt her eyes widen like the time he got onto her for singing that song. She stumbled backward, then dashed back upstairs.

                “You have five minutes! If you’re still here after that, I’m calling the police!” He yelled.

                Her eyes burned as she raced around her room packing her bags in a hurry. She grabbed all of the bags out of her closet and just started shoving things in them. Four minutes. She sprinted into the bathroom and cleared it of all of her utilities. She went back into her bedroom and made a quick decision of which stuffed animals and knick-knacks to take with her, and which ones to leave. She took the ones her friends had given her. She took the stuffed hippopotamus her mother had given her before her cancer won the battle. She took the giant teddy bear Sarah had won her at a local fair. She left everything her father…no, Pulitzer gave her. Three minutes. That’s who he was. Pulitzer. He wasn’t her father, and she wasn’t his daughter. Her name was Katherine Plumber. She shook her head and got back to work. Two minutes. Some of the suitcases wouldn’t close, so she sloppily wrapped them in duct tape. There were too many. She would never get all of them out of the house in time. Still, she tried. She grabbed her suitcase of clothing and her bad of utilities and made a mad dash out of the house and to the street corner outside of her…his house. One minute. She ran back inside and grabbed her bag of stuffed animals and knick-knacks and her box of books. Fifty seconds. She grabbed her typewriter case and her laptop bag. Thirty seconds. She gathered up her comforter, pillows, and all of her blankets. Twenty seconds. She grabbed all of her school items and supplies. Ten seconds. Ah, what the hell? She grabbed her newsboy cap and fixed it on her head, then grabbed her entire mattress and hauled it outside. Five seconds. She was out. She was safe. From him, at least. She might’ve been right outside the house, but she wasn’t on his property anymore, so he couldn’t do anything about it. She finally collapsed onto her pile. Whether it was from fear, exhaustion, or both was something she didn’t know. She knew it wasn’t safe, but she let herself drift off to sleep anyway.

                Hours later, she shot back up. The sky was still that same shade of orange as before, so she figured she had only been out for a few minutes. When she pulled her phone out of her pocket and pressed the button that turned on the screen, she realized that it was three A.M. She really needed to get home. Oh…wait. She looked around at what she was on top of and suddenly remembered. She didn’t have a home. It wasn’t safe out there for her. She didn’t want to wake anyone up and burden them with the task of coming and getting her, but did she really have a choice? The screen became increasingly blurry as the tears welled up in her eyes, so she didn’t see who she called. It could’ve been Pulitzer, for all she knew.

 

***

 

                Jack yawned and scratched at the small amount of stubble he had finally begun to grow as he left the bathroom. It was three A.M. and, as usual, he was having problems sleeping. He was almost to David’s bedroom when the old corded phone at the end of the hallway started ringing. He hesitated, then walked over and picked it up. “Jacobs residence.” He mumbled, his voice raspy from the lack of sleep.

                “Who…Who is this?” She didn’t recognize the voice as belonging to anyone in the family, not even Meyer.

                “…Kath? That you?”

                “J-Jack?”

                “Are you okay? I can go get Sarah if you need her.”

                “No, I actually, uh…I kind of need David.”

                “Alright, just give me a few seconds. I’ll go get him.” Jack softly set the phone down on the small table it was sitting on, then set off down the hallway. He entered David’s room and crawled on top of the other boy. “Davey, wake up.” He whispered. No response. “Sugar, c’mon, you need to get up.”  He started shaking him lightly. Again, no response. He sighed, leaned down, and started pressing soft kisses to David’s face. Within seconds, David was awake.

                “Jack, what’re you doing? It isn’t time to wake up yet.” He sounded frustrated, but there was a small smile on his face.

                “You have a phone call. It’s Katherine.” Jack explained.

                David forced his eyes open. “Katherine? Is she alright?”

                Jack shrugged, then got off of David. David pushed himself out of bed and trudged into the hallway. Jack decided to follow him. “Katherine?” David yawned into the phone.

                “David. Thank God. You don’t have to say yes, but I could really use some help right now. I, uh, I have quite a bit of stuff on my hands and I need a vehicle with space in it.”

                “At three A.M.?”

                “…Yes.”

                “Alright. I’m on the way. Your house?”

                “M-My house…yeah.”

                They said their goodbyes and ended the call at the same time. “There’s something wrong.”

                “You noticed it, too?”

                “Yeah. Let’s get going.” David didn’t bother changing out of his pajamas. He grabbed his car keys off of his nightstand, then made the last minute decision to wake Sarah up and drag her with him. She started grumbling something about how she didn’t have to wake up early like he did because her private school was on a break, but when he mentioned Katherine, she shut up very quickly. The three of them quietly snuck out of the house and left in David’s van. It took them about ten minutes to get to Katherine’s house. When David saw her sitting out on the sidewalk, he decided against pulling in the driveway and instead pulled over in front of her. He shut the car off, then hopped out, as did the other two. “Hey, Katherine. I brought some help along. I hope you don’t m- Kath. That’s like…your entire bedroom. Did he…?”

                Katherine bit her lip and nodded, not bothering to stop the tears from flowing down her face like rivers. Sarah rushed forward and wrapped Katherine up in a hug. “You can stay with us tonight, alright, baby?” Katherine nodded again, opting not to try to speak.

                Jack looked over at David, then nodded at the pile of bags and suitcases. They started to pack everything into the back of David’s van. They mistakenly left the mattress for last. They didn’t question why she brought it along. There was hardly any room left, but they finally got it in there after a lot of adjustment.

                The entire car ride back was silent aside from Katherine’s sniffling and breath hitching every few seconds. She honestly didn’t know what she planned on doing. Not only was she left without a permanent home, but she was also rejected by the only known family she had left. However…even though she was without a literal home and family, there was something about being wrapped up in her girlfriend’s arms and seeing her best friends holding hands in the front seats that made her feel safe.


	12. Protest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They go to OCS, get unexpected supporters, and launch the protest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warnings: Swearing, violence, injury mention. (This is my second time trying to upload this and it's 4:10 AM, so if I missed anything please tell me)
> 
>  
> 
> (Also, there's a link in the previous chapter to a slideshow of the photographs mentioned in said chapter. It was supposed to be there all along, but I only realized a few hours ago that I didn't put it in there.)

 

                The next day of school was extremely boring. They all showed up to OCS like they were supposed to, but after explaining to the teacher why they got OCS, they didn’t really have to do anything. She supported them fully and even told them stories about her transgender granddaughter. She let them do their work for the day and help each other out, then let them just do whatever they wanted to.

                “So, how many supporters do we have?” David asked as he stared up at the ceiling counting the number of tiles.

                “Uh, you, Jack, and Kath got fifteen.  Team Personality over there somehow got twenty.” Kid Blink was reading off of a list he had compiled earlier.

                “It’s because we have personality!” Crutchie exclaimed, throwing an arm around Hot Shot’s shoulders.

                “It’s because _you_ have personality.” Hot Shot rolled their eyes, which was the most playful thing David had ever seen them do.

                “Anywho, Race, Sniper, Spot, and Smalls got ten. Albert, Tommy, Jo, Buttons, and the twinners got thirteen. Maybe, I guess. No one knows if Jacobi is coming. Romeo, Henry, and Specs got fourteen. The best group got eleven.”

                “Is it the best group because you’re in it?” Sniper laughed.

                “Nah. It’s the best because Mush is in it.” Blink leaned over and ruffled Mush’s hair, causing them to blush.

                Race fake-gagged. “Get a room.” He flicked one of the cards he had in his hand and it hit Blink directly on the forehead.

                “Elm?” Jack called out.

                “One hundred five in total, including us,” Elmer answered as she blew on her recently painted nails.

                “Okay, that’s not terrible. Studies have shown that most successful protests have over one hundred supporters, so we’re off to a _decent_ start.” David muttered.

                “I would come, but I’ll be going out of town. If this progresses to the stage involving the entire city, then you can count on me and my granddaughter being there.” The OCS teacher promised.

                “Hell yeah! Er, uh…heck…yeah.” JoJo jumped up and exclaimed. He cast a nervous glance at the teacher, who was trying to hold back a smile.

                “I didn’t hear anything, did you?” She asked Katherine.

                Katherine looked up from painting Elmer’s nails. “Nope.” She shrugged.

                JoJo let out a breath of relief and sat back down. That relief didn’t last long, however. A few seconds later, someone started loudly knocking on the door. They all immediately scattered back to their seats and made it look like they were working. When everyone was where they were supposed to be, the teacher walked over to the door and opened it. Standing outside was a group of students.

                “Can we come in?” One of them asked. The teacher hesitated, then moved aside and let them in. The room was fairly large, but there were so many students that it was nearly a tight squeeze. David knew some of the students, but most of them were students he had just seen in the hallways. The one at the front of the group with [purple hair](http://www.fashionisers.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/stylish_short_hairstyles_haircuts_for_women_diamond_undercut47.jpg) stuck out the most. He quickly recognized them as the tambourine player from Sniper’s band. “Heard you guys needed help. I got the Wicca club and the Chess club on board.”

                “Oh my god, Dami. You’re a legend.” Albert stood up and hugged them.

                “That’s one hundred twenty-five, now,” Elmer said without anyone asking.

                “That’s _a lot_ better than before. Thanks…” David trailed off to let them tell him their name.

                “Damiana. Sometimes it’s Damian, if you catch my drift, but you can call me whatever you’d like, cutie.” Damiana added a wink. David’s eyes widened and his face flushed as he looked to Jack for help.

                “Hey, hands off of my boyfriend, Dami.” Jack moved to stand beside David as gasps echoed throughout the room.

                “I knew it! I fucking knew it! Ten bucks, Spottie!” Race shouted. Spot huffed and rolled his eyes, then dug around in his wallet and handed Race a ten dollar bill.

                “I was just joking around, Jackaboy, relax.” Damiana chuckled.

                “Can we, uh, get to business?” David cleared his throat.

                “Alright, yeah. What’s the plan?”

 

***

 

                School had only been out for ten minutes when people began to gather. David’s family had shown up first since they had gone and picked Les up from school. Esther and Meyer were wearing matching shirts that read, “We Love Our Gay Daughter” and “And Our Grey-Ace Gay Son.” The second one didn’t really make sense unless they were standing together, but it was still sweet. Les was wearing a shirt that read, “[No One Should Live In A Closet](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81vxDhvVxoL._UX385_.jpg)” and he was holding a sign that read, “The Only Filth Contaminating The School Is Pulitzer’s Attitude.” (He originally wanted it to say “The Only Filth Contaminating The School Is Pulitzer’s Face,” but his parents wouldn’t let him.) Sarah was quite literally [dressed as a rainbow](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51Qk6N0lCvL._UX385_.jpg) and she was holding a sign that contained a photo of Jesus face-palming and the words, “[Guys, I Said I Hate Figs](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BGX4AmfCIAEB5UR.jpg).” Sam Wah, Sniper’s father, was the next one to show up. In one hand, he held a sign that read, “[Trans Women Are Women](http://archermagazine.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/lana-women-are-women-768x1024.jpg)” and in the other was a sign that read, “[I Love My Transgender Child](https://gendertrender.files.wordpress.com/2016/10/transgender-students.jpg?w=480&h=320).” Next were Buttons’ mother and sister, along with two other women. They were all dressed head to toe in rainbow-colored clothing, and even though his sister was in her football uniform, she had on rainbow eye black and rainbow knee-high socks. Gradually, the rest of the supporters trickled into the area, including Jacobi, who was wearing his work uniform with a rainbow tie.

                When the students (and Medda) exited the school, they filled up the area and some ran to their respective families. David, Jack, Katherine, Spot, Race, and Medda made their way over to David’s family.

                “Oh my god, guys. This is…this is great.” David smiled as he looked at his family’s clothes and signs.

                “ _Babe_. When you said you were going to be dressed as a rainbow, I didn’t think you meant it literally.” Katherine covered her mouth slightly and laughed.

                “You love it.” Sarah struck a dramatic pose, then burst into laughter as well.

                “Alright, so, this is Jack’s mother, Miss Medda. That’s Jack’s brother, Spot and his boyfriend, Race.” David stepped to the side and let Medda meet his parents.

                Meanwhile, Buttons ran to his mother and sister with Tommy Boy and JoJo in tow. “Mom! You made it!” He skidded to a stop and threw his arms around her.

                “I told you I would!” She smiled and returned the hug.

                “I know, it just…it makes me really happy that you’re here.” He pulled back and kindly raised his eyebrows at the other two women.

                “Oh, uh, you don’t have a problem with me dating, do you?” His mother’s smile was a mixture of nervousness and hopefulness.

                Buttons’ eyes widened and he slapped a hand over his mouth. Tears spilled down his cheeks and he crashed into his mother’s arms again. “Of course I don’t! Why didn’t you tell me?”

                “I wasn’t sure how you’d react. I didn’t want you to be upset with me, so I waited.” She shrugged as she started crying as well.

                “As long as they treat you better than _he_ did, then I could never be upset.”

                “They definitely do. This is Janis and this is Veronica.” She pulled out of the hug and gestured to the women as she said their names.

                “I’m sure you know who I am, but I’m going to introduce myself anyway. Right now I’m Benjamin, but sometimes I might be Bee. Most people call me Buttons, though, so that’s cool, too.” He smiled at his mother’s girlfriends, then let his eyes widen again. “This _might_ be a good time to mention that these are my boyfriends.” He tugged on Tommy Boy’s and JoJo’s sleeves and pulled them closer to him. “This is Thomas Dameski, but we call him Tommy Boy. This one is Jorgelino Josephino De La Guerra, but we call him JoJo.”

                As they all got acquainted, Pulitzer was inside wondering what the hell was going on outside of his school.

                “What the hell is going on outside of my school!?” Pulitzer shouted.

                “I, uh…there’s a huge group of people outside. A lot of them are students, but there are adults, too. And little kids. I think your daughter is out there, too.” Hannah peeked out of the blinds and told him what she saw.

                “I don’t have a daughter. Move. Call over the intercom and tell the important members of our staff that there is an emergency meeting in my office right _now_.”

                “Yes, Mr. Pulitzer.”

                Within a few minutes, Pulitzer was in his office with Nurse Wiesel, assistant principal Snyder, and Wiesel’s nephews, the Delancey Brothers.

                “Does anyone know what the hell is going on outside!?” Pulitzer furiously jabbed a finger in the direction of the window.

                The brothers cracked open the blinds in unison, then turned back to Pulitzer. “Looks like a protest, to me,” Oscar answered.

                “That’s what we heard, anyway,” Morris added.

                “A protest? What do they think they’re protesting outside of my school?”

                “Take one look at the shit they have on and that should tell you.” Wiesel sneered.

                Pulitzer frowned and looked outside again. Upon taking a closer look, it all clicked into place. “I cannot _believe_ those creatures would do this.”

                “It’s human nature, Joe.” Wiesel shrugged.

                “Those things aren’t human.”

                “Morally, no, they aren’t. But, biologically, they are human. It’s human nature to never stop until we get what we want.” Wiesel raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms over his chest. Pulitzer turned around to face him and immediately caught what he was suggesting. He looked over at Snyder and nodded. Snyder smiled from ear to ear and started dialing a number on the telephone.

                “Two can play at this game,” Pulitzer smirked as he turned back to the window.

                Outside, they were all trying to get the protest started up. All attention had been turned to David, and he was getting a bit anxious, to say the least.

                “Davey, how do we get this thing started up?” Spot questioned.

                “Uh…I honestly don’t know. I kind of figured it’d just…happen.” David responded quietly. Murmurs and whispers broke out throughout the crowd as people wondered what to do. Les huffed and tapped on Race’s arm. Race leaned down and they whispered to each other for a few seconds. Race leaned back up and grabbed Les’s sign, handed it to Spot, then lifted the small boy up onto his shoulders. He took the sign back and handed it up to Les.

                Les held the sign high, relying on Race to keep him up there. “Love is love!” He nearly screamed. Everyone was silent until Hot Shot repeated the exclamation from the other side of the crowd. Slowly, everyone else followed suit until they were all chanting it. Les looked down at David and smiled. David couldn’t help but feel a little proud of himself as he took in his surroundings. He did this. He couldn’t have done it by himself, but this was still his idea. He was proud. He was proud of himself. He was proud of his friends. He was proud of his family. He was proud of the community that they had formed just by being themselves. And, like most good things in this story, that pride was short-lived. The arrival of the many police cars sent a small jolt of panic through him, but he just figured they were there to make sure things didn’t get out of control. That wasn’t what they were there for. As soon as they hopped out of their cars, they started grabbing people. It was a mess. People started running in a very specific direction and it only took David a few seconds to realize that they were running to the auditorium. Jack had somehow slipped away from him and was directing people to it while he prevented a few officers from following the large group of people. Somehow, everyone managed to get away. That’s what he thought, at least.

                “Jack! Hot Shot! Someone! Help!” Somewhere in the madness, the Delancey Brothers had slipped out of the office. They had taken Crutchie’s crutches and had him pinned to the floor. Jack looked frantically between Crutchie and the crowd of fleeing people.

                “I’ve got it!” Hot Shot yelled, waving their hand at Jack to tell him to follow the group. Jack stayed there for a few seconds, then took off.

                Everyone rapidly flooded into the auditorium. Medda was already inside and she had a trap door in the stage opened. They all quickly jumped in and navigated their way through a secret tunnel. It took them a few minutes, but they finally ended up in a classroom. It was the garage band room, which was completely soundproof due to obvious reasons.

                “Elmer?” Jack called out, much like he did in the OCS room.

                “One hundred twenty-three! We’re missing two!” Elmer replied from somewhere in the crowd.

                “Crutchie and Hot Shot. Alright, we should be safe in here. No one ever comes down here unless they have class, and school’s out. They saw us headed for the auditorium, so they’ll probably check there. They won’t find us here, though. I made sure of that.” Jack sat down on the edge of the small stage and rested his face in his palms.

                “What is he talking about?” David asked Medda.

                “That was one of Jack’s many secret passages he built in order to escape people chasing him. No one has ever found this one.” She answered.

                “Is everyone alright? Is anyone hurt?” Specs questioned, raising his voice a bit.

                “I think I re-sprained my ankle.” JoJo pouted as he looked at his deformed foot.

                “Jo, oh my _god_. That thing is fucking broken.” Smalls took one glance at his foot, then looked away. “I think I’m going to vomit.”

                “It isn’t that bad, Smalls. I can’t even feel it.”

                “What do you mean!?” Tommy Boy exclaimed worriedly.

                “No, I can feel it! I just mean it doesn’t really hurt. I have a high pain tolerance.” JoJo shrugged.

                “Your foot went from a ninety-degree angle to a one hundred eighty-degree angle and it makes me want to regurgitate my entire skeleton.” Smalls still refused to look.

                “That’s a bit dramatic, Smalls.”

                “Does anyone _else_ have any injuries?” Specs asked.

                “Over here!” Buttons’ mother called out. Buttons’ sister, Valeria, was sitting in her lap. The young girl was cradling her knee close to her chest. Specs navigated his way through all of the people and carefully picked Valeria up, then rested her on a bean bag chair on the stage.

                “What’s your name?” He questioned.

                “Valeria.” She sniffled.

                “Valeria. Alright, I’m Scott, but my friends call me Specs. Do you mind if I cut a bit of this pants leg off of you?”

                She shrugged. “I have a bunch of these at home.”

                Specs nodded and dug his scissors out of his medical bag. He cut the right pants leg open until it went a little bit above her knee, then stopped and cut it off. He examined the wide gash in her knee, then got to work. It wasn’t too deep, but it wasn’t exactly shallow either. It would need stitches.

                “Your name is really pretty. What’s it mean?” He decided to talk to her while he worked.

                “It means ‘to be strong.’” She winced a bit but didn’t make a sound.

                “Well, that’s very fitting because you’re being super strong right now. You play football?”

                “Yeah. I’m the only girl on my team. The boys on the other teams joke and laugh about it until I show them who’s boss on the field.”

                “That’s the spirit, kid. You’re Buttons’ sister, right? You guys look alike.”

                “Yeah, but we aren’t alike personality-wise.”

                “How so?”

                “We’re into totally different things. I’m the sporty one; he’s the musical nerd. I’m into heavy music; he’s into indie pop and show tunes. I’m strong; he’s a bit of a scaredy cat.”

                “Scaredy cat?”

                “Don’t tell anyone I told you this, but he was hiding his face in my shoulder when we saw the new _IT_ movie.”

                “Ah, but it was a little scary, right? Especially the clown?”

                “Nah. I laughed throughout the entire movie. But…I guess you can be strong and afraid at the same time. He was stressing out a bit this morning about the protest, but he still got out there. I bet a lot of people were like that, too.”

                “Hey, I feel you. I laughed through the entire thing, too. My friends don’t get it, but it just didn’t scare me. Especially when I knew that under all of that paint and CGI was a cute boy. And, yeah, undoubtedly.”

                Valeria laughed a bit, then watched as he finished stitching up the wound. “I won’t be able to play, will I?”

                “Have your games started yet?”

                “They start at the end of next month.”

                “Then it all depends on how quickly you heal. I advise against participating in practice, though.”

                “Yeah…thanks, Specs.”

                “You’re welcome, Valeria.”

                Suddenly, something thumped against the secret door. Everyone in the room froze up and went silent. A few seconds later, someone knocked on the door in a pattern. Jack moved over to the door and slowly opened it, then quickly caught whoever was leaning on it.

                “Crtuchie!” All of the students exclaimed.

                “The hell, Crutch!? Did you crawl the entire way here?” Jack examined his dirty clothes, skin, and hair.”

                “I d-did, actually. Oscar and Morris stole my crutches.” Crutchie chuckled. His smile faded almost as quickly as it appeared. “H-He got them, Jack.”

                “Who? Who got who?”

                “Snyder. S-Snyder got Hot Shot.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun Facts:  
> -I don't know how protests go.  
> -I still don't know how medical procedures work.  
> -Valeria was originally supposed to be "Valerie" but my sleep deprived ass mistyped and was like, "whoa wait that sounds cool" (it's a legit name tho)  
> -Are Buttons' mother's girlfriends named Veronica and Janis? Yes. Did I get the names from Heathers and Mean Girls? Yes. Are they those characters? No. Is this a crossover? No.


	13. Refuge

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The newsies split up to recruit the other boroughs, shit goes down in the Bronx, and we see what happens to Hot Shot.
> 
>  
> 
> (I don't know what kind of sick shit was going on in my head when I wrote this, but here it is.) (Also, I love my Brooklyn bbs)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warnings: Extreme swearing, weapons, car accident mention, death mention, child abuse, alcohol, graphic injury, violence/torture, abandonment mention, surgery mention. (There's also a scene where a character is trapped in a small space, so if that counts as a trigger warning, then there you go.)
> 
>  
> 
> (This one was a doozy y'all)

 

                “They were trying to save me, Jack. And-And they did, but he got them. The cops got them first, but then Snyder said he’d take over and they all just let him take them away. They…They didn’t fight him, but they looked scared. They looked so scared.” Crutchie crumbled and Jack eased him down to the floor.

                “Alright. I can’t take this shit. When are we getting the city in on this? I will march to Brooklyn right now if I have to.” Spot stood up and asked David.

                “Well, every day we wait is a day we lose, as I’ve said before, but I think some people may need to rest,” David answered.

                “Yeah, well, I don’t. I’m going.” Hot Shot wasn’t there to make him think through things, but he didn’t care. He was getting shit done and he was doing it right then. “Who’s coming with me?” No one volunteered. They all just looked away. “Guys. Come on.”

                After a few seconds of silence, Elmer stood. “I’ll go with you.”

                “Are…Are you sure?” Spot’s anger dissolved a bit and let a concerned expression cover his face.

                “Yeah. I’m sure.” Elmer set her jaw and nodded.

                “Alright, let’s go.” Spot stepped off of the stage and moved toward the secret door with Elmer following.

                Next, Albert stepped up. “I’m going to Flushing. Who’s with me?”

                “I am.” Finch stood.

                “I’m going to Richmond. Tommy?” Romeo questioned. It was technically Staten Island, but Romeo's family always called it Richmond. (A.K.A.: They say Richmond in the musical, but the author didn't realize that the name was changed to Staten Island in 1975.)

                “Will you two be okay here?” Tommy Boy asked JoJo and Buttons. When they both nodded, he stood up. “I’m coming.”

                Kid Blink stood up and offered a hand to Mush. “Woodside.”

                “Woodside.”

                “Who wants to go see my idiotic brother again?” Smalls asked. Sniper and Race both raised their hands eagerly and stood.

                The entire group left at the same time and made their way back to the auditorium through the secret passage. When they got back to the stage, Spot peeked up out of the trap door to make sure no one was out there, then fully pushed it up. He exited first, then held it open for the rest of them. They all snuck backstage and left through a back exit, then quietly dashed into the forest behind the school.

 

*** 

 

                “You know you didn’t have to volunteer. I could’ve gone by myself.” Spot and Elmer had managed to sneak back onto campus and get Spot’s truck. They were already halfway across the Brooklyn Bridge.

                “I wanted to.” She shrugged as she looked out over the water.

                “Elm, you and I both know that you don’t like coming back to Brooklyn.”

                “As long as I don’t see them, I’ll be fine.”

                “Are you-”

                “I’m sure.”

                Spot looked her up and down, then left it at that. A little while later, Spot pulled into an alley and parked his truck, then shut it off. Both Albert and Elmer flipped their hoods over their heads, then walked across the street to sneak into an abandoned building in the Navy Yard. They were almost immediately greeted with guns pressed into their backs and slingshots aimed at their faces.

                “State your name and purpose!” A voice echoed throughout the building.

                “King of Brooklyn. On business from Manhattan.” Spot took his hood off and unintentionally puffed his chest out. He might’ve lived in Manhattan, but he was still highly respected in Brooklyn.

                “E-Elmer. Also on business from Manhattan.” Elmer took her hood off with trembling hands.

                The weapons lowered and everyone stood still until someone jumped down from a suspended walkway and landed in front of them. They took their hood off and they were revealed to be a pale girl with light brown eyes, fiery red hair, and braces. “Good to have you back, boss.” She nodded at Spot, then threw her arms around Elmer’s neck. “I missed you, Elm.”

                “I missed you too, Caper.” Elmer shakily exhaled.

                “How is everything around here?” Spot questioned.

                “It hasn’t been the same since you left, but Kenny’s doing pretty well with filling your shoes. He could never be king, but he’s doing his job. Say, where’s your boyfriend?” Caper smirked.

                “He’s in the Bronx, thank god. If I brought him along, I’d never be able to talk business because I’d have to watch you two and make sure you didn’t get yourselves killed.”

                “Ah, come on, Spot! We aren’t that bad!”

                “Oh, yeah you are. Especially if Smoke is with you. Speaking of, where is the prick?” Spot took a look around, trying to find “Smoke.”

                “Harsh, boss.” One of the people with the guns removed their hood and chuckled. The boy had brown hair, blue eyes, and was covered in burn scars. He also had a thick Irish accent. Spot opened his mouth to respond but closed it when he heard the sound of a cane hitting the floor. He turned around just in time to catch it.

                “I’m not staying, Kenny.” Spot looked down and ran his hands up and down the cane.

                “It’s yours while you’re here, boss,” Kenny replied. “What’s going on in Manhattan? I’m hearing rumors everywhere, but none of them are the same.”

                Spot held the cane in front of him and slightly leaned forward on it. “We want a GSA at our high school, but our principal is a discriminatory piece of shit. We formed a protest and he called his cop buddies to stop us. They tried to arrest us, but we got away…except for Hot Shot.” Whispers and murmurs broke out throughout the room. Kenny went to tap the cane against the ground in order to get them to quiet down, but he realized he had given it to Spot. Spot did it for him. The entire building went silent. “Man, I forgot what that feels like. Anyway, Snyder the Spider got Hot Shot. I’m sure you’ve all heard the rumors about him and what he does to kids.”

                “What do we need to do?” The other boy with a gun asked. He had dark brown curly hair, green eyes, mocha skin, and an accent that was a weird mixture of New York and Southern.

                “We can get Hot Shot. We’re holding another protest, but I’m not sure when it’s going to be yet. We’re trying to get the entire city behind us. I need to know if you’ll be there to support us.” Spot explained.

                “Do you want us to be there, boss?” Kenny questioned.

                “I’d appreciate it, yes.”

                “Then we’ll be there.”

                “No.”

                Kenny’s eyebrows creased in confusion. “No?”

                “I want you to be there if _you_ choose to be there. Not because I want you there.”

                “Well, then, everyone who wants to stand beside our brothers, sisters, and siblings in Manhattan, come forward.” Almost immediately, Caper, Smoke, and the Southern boy stepped forward. Gradually, nearly the entire building was gathered around Spot and Elmer. Only a few had slipped into the shadows.

                “Thank you. I’ll either come back or contact you somehow once I get more information.” Spot smiled gratefully and handed the cane back to Kenny.

                “Hey, hold on, boss. Can we talk to Elmer for a minute?” Caper asked.

                “Go ahead.” Spot nudged Elmer toward her. Elmer looked back at Spot with widened eyes, then let Caper take her by the hand and lead her to a room in the back. Smoke and the Southern boy followed them.

                “Lock the door, Texas.” The Southern boy, Texas, did as he was told. “Elm, you might want to sit down.”

                Elmer glanced at each of them anxiously, then sat down at the wooden table in the center of the room. “Did I do something wrong?” She questioned.

                “No, no. You didn’t do anything wrong. We just…we have some news that might or might not be bad.” Caper sat down in front of her. Elmer raised her eyebrows. “Your parents…they got into an accident a few weeks ago. They didn’t make it.”

                Elmer sighed and closed her eyes. She leaned forward and rested her forehead on the table. Within seconds, her shoulders started shaking.

                “Oh, Elmer. It’ll be alright.” Smoke leaned against the table and rubbed her back.

                “Yeah. It will.” She looked up at them, a smile on her face. The other three looked at each other in confusion. “Did my siblings get away from them? Are they safe?”

                The realization dawned on them. “Yeah. They’re safe. Your oldest sibling took them in and is working on gaining custody.”

                “Good. That’s so good.”

 

*** 

 

                “Echo? C’mon, open up.” Smalls banged on the door to Echo’s shop. When she got no response, she wiggled the handle. The door came open. “He never leaves this unlocked.” She cautiously entered the building and noticed that the light was on downstairs. The three of them crept down the stairs after locking the door. The store looked exactly the same as the last time they were there, except for the fact that Echo was sitting on the floor with sunglasses on and an alcohol bottle in one hand and a gun in the other, which was pointed at them. “Danny, hey, it’s, us.” Smalls said softly. Echo kept the gun pointed at them for a few more seconds, then put it down. He looked straight ahead and took a swig out of the bottle. His usual happy demeanor was completely gone.  “Danny, what happened?”

                “I stumbled across the wrong people in the alley earlier.” Echo’s monotone voice deeply worried all three of them.

                “Echo…what did they do?” Sniper asked.

                In one swift motion, he rested the bottle on the floor and whipped his sunglasses off. He looked directly at them, but he couldn’t see them. It seemed as if someone took a knife to his eyes and just didn’t stop. Hell, that’s probably what happened.

                “Oh my god. I think I’m going to be sick.” Race covered his mouth and looked at the floor.

                “If you vomit on the floor, you get to clean it up, because I frankly won’t be able to see it.” Echo shrugged and put the sunglasses on. “The bathroom is in the hallway behind the counter.” Race quickly made his way to the bathroom. “Makes me feel really good about myself. Is it that bad?” Echo asked the other two.

                “Your eyes look like sloppily chopped onions, Daniel! Yes, it’s that bad!” Smalls exclaimed.

                “Ah. Great.”

                “What the hell happened!?”

                “I just told you.”

                “You’re trying to tell me that you just so happened to stumble along some bad people in an alleyway and they decided to dice your fucking eyes!? Don’t lie to me!”

                Echo snatched the gun and the bottle off of the ground, then pushed himself up. He leaned against the counter and slammed both items down on the top, hard enough to make the other two jump but not hard enough to make the bottle shatter. “They found out about the shop. They tried to get in, but I wouldn’t let them. There were too many of them for me to fight off on my own. They pinned me to the floor and took a knife to my eyes over, and over, and over, and over. There’s your fucking truth.” As he spoke, his voice gradually became more strained. A strange mixture of blood and tears came out of one eye, while nothing happened with the other one. He wiped at the blood, but it just smeared across his face. He huffed and expertly moved around the counter and plopped down in his chair.

                “Danny…why didn’t you just say that in the first place?” Smalls moved over to the counter, her own voice sounding strained.

                “Didn’t want you worrying about me.” Echo shrugged.

                “I’m always going to worry about you. I’m your sister. Here, take my hand.” Smalls held out her hand.

                “You do realize that I _literally_ can’t see, right?”

                “Right. Sorry.” She softly grabbed one of his hands and pulled him up and away from the counter.

                “Where are we going?”

                “To see a doctor.”

                Echo pulled his hand away like he had been burnt. “I can’t afford that.”

                “You don’t have to. Trust me.”

                “I honestly can’t afford to go to the doctor. All of my money goes to the bills and my food. I can’t-”

                “You don’t trust me?”

                “Smalls.”

                “Echo.”

                “Sabrina.”

                “Daniel.”

                “Racetrack!” Race had finally come out of the bathroom. In unison, the other three groaned and shook their heads. “By the way, dude, I love your soap dispenser.”

                “…What’s the soap dispenser?” Sniper questioned suspiciously.

                “It’s a penis. You have to jack it off to get the soap out of it. It’s really cool.” Race explained.

                “Oh my god. Let’s go.” Sniper rolled her eyes and started up the staircase.

                “But, Sniper!” Echo whined.

                “Ah, no. Don’t you start on that. Your sister is the boss here. I’m just the chauffeur. Honestly, though, you really do need to get that checked out. It’ll be even worse if it gets infected.”

                “Yeah, yeah. I know.” Echo trudged up the stairs. “One of you might need to help me once we leave. I know this building up and down, but everything else I might have trouble with.”

                “Oh, yeah, definitely. Hey, no offense, but you’re taking this much easier than I would.”

                “I don’t think the realization has set in yet. Like, I know I can’t see. That’s pretty fucking obvious. But, I don’t think it’s registered yet. Kind of like when you get in a car accident and you know you’ve been in a car accident because you’re hanging upside down in your car, but it doesn’t really register until you start to feel the pain a few hours later and you’re like, ‘Ah, man, I was in a car crash.’ You feel me?”

                “…That’s never happened to me.”

                “I feel you. Kind of. I know this isn’t anywhere near losing your sight or getting in a car crash, but my mother abandoned me and my father last week. I knew she was gone, but it didn’t really hit me until the next day when I saw her empty room.” Race replied.

                “Oh. Dude, I’m sorry.” Echo responded awkwardly.

                “Eh, it’s alright.”

                They all stood there in silence for a few seconds, then continued up the stairs.

 

***

 

                About thirty minutes later, they were back in Manhattan. They pulled into a driveway of a large house and stepped out of Sniper’s convertible in unison. Race and Sniper walked up to the door, while Smalls helped Echo behind them. Sniper knocked on the door, then stepped back. It was getting pretty late, so they were hoping the person they wanted to see had A. already gotten home and B. was still awake.

                “Hey, guys. What’s up?” Specs asked when he opened the door.

                “We have a…teeny, tiny medical issue.” Sniper responded.

                “Oh. Come on in.” He stepped aside and let all of them come in. He then closed the door. “So, what is it?”

                Almost immediately, Echo took a somewhat wobbly step forward and removed his sunglasses. Specs’ own eyes nearly bulged out of his skull.

                “What the hell!? No! I’m not- No!”

                “It’s really that bad, isn’t it?”

                “It’s just…I can’t!”

                “What’s wrong? Afraid of a little blood?” Race teased as if he wasn’t the one vomiting in the bathroom earlier.

                “Race, I fix your dumbass injuries almost daily. I’m used to blood. _This_ is something I’m not used to. I can fix broken bones and I can stitch wounds, but I can’t do this!”

                “Specs, come on. There has to be something you can do.” Smalls almost begged.

                “You guys don’t understand what I’m saying. I’m not _trained_ to deal with injuries like this. I literally can’t do…” He trailed off and creased his eyebrows. “Actually, I might be able to do something. Just, uh…give me a few minutes.” He left the room. When he came back, he had his car keys in one hand and his phone pressed to his ear. He headed toward the front door and gestured for them to follow him. “Yeah. We’re on the way. I really owe you, Pa. Thanks. See you in a few minutes.” He pressed the “end call” button on his phone and tossed it into the passenger seat of his car. “Alright. We’re going to the hospital.”

                “We-” Smalls started.

                “My grandfather’s taking care of it. Don’t worry about it.”

                “Are you sure? Because-”

                “No, honestly. It’s fine. He’s probably bored out of his mind right now anyway.” Specs smiled. “Let’s roll, gang. We don’t have all night.” He slid into his car and started it up, then pulled out of the driveway. Sniper soon followed.

 

*** 

 

                Around one A.M., the Jacobs family, including Jack and Katherine, were all sitting in their living room. Esther was curled into Meyer’s side asleep on the loveseat, Katherine and Sarah were entangled together on the couch, and David was sprawled across Jack’s lap on the recliner. Les was leaning into his mother’s side.

                “Today was eventful.” Katherine muttered.

                “Yep.” Les agreed.

                “Have we heard anything from the others yet?” Sarah questioned.

                “Nope. Not- Well, speak of the devil.” David swiped his finger across his phone screen and tapped in his password, then clicked on his text notification. “We have Brooklyn.” He started.

                “Thank god.” Jack exhaled a sigh of relief.

                “However, we aren’t sure about the Bronx yet. Something’s going on so they haven’t had the chance to ask.”

                “What’s going on?”

                “Don’t know. All Sniper said was- Oh my god.”

                “What is it?” Les yawned.

                “Our friend Echo. He, uh, he isn’t doing very well.”

                “What’s wrong with him?” Katherine asked.

                “Smalls isn’t saying what happened specifically, but she is saying that they’re performing an emergency surgery. They’re doing an…enucleation?” David raised his eyebrows.

                Suddenly, Katherine shot up. “An enucleation? Do you know what that is?” They looked at each other, then shook their heads. “It’s eye removal surgery. They usually do it to remove tumors, but they also do it if the eye is severely damaged.”

                “…Damn.” Sarah whispered.

                “Do you think we should go see him?” Jack asked.

                “They won’t let anyone in until after the surgery, but…we could.” David shrugged. They all looked around at each other, then got up. David and Sarah woke up their parents and got permission to leave, then they were all on their way to the hospital.

                When they got there, Smalls, Sniper, and Race were in the waiting room. Race was messing with the zipper on his jacket, Smalls was staring off into space, and Sniper was trying not to fall asleep. Specs entered from a different hallway almost at the exact time the others entered.

                “They’re done with the surgery. They’re getting him into a recovery room now. They’ll come and get you once they’re done.” Specs smiled sympathetically and laid a hand on Smalls’ shoulder. She just slowly nodded in response. Specs gave her shoulder a small squeeze, then walked over to the others. “Hey, guys.”

                “Hey, Specs. How’s Smalls doing?” Jack questioned.

                “She’s…dealing, I guess. She was trying to keep herself together for him, but the moment they took him away, she lost it. Now she’s pissed. I bet if you put Pulitzer _and_ his goons right here in this hospital, she wouldn’t hesitate to attack.”

                “Are you saying Pulitzer had something to do with this?” Sarah asked. “Because if you are, I’m all for beating the shit out of him.”

                “No, I’m just saying-” He cut himself off when a scream echoed (ha, pun) throughout the hallways of the hospital.

                Smalls jumped up and ran off in the direction of the scream. They all took off and followed her, then watched as she ran straight into a nurse.

                “Oh god, I’m so-”

                “Are you Sabrina Hunt?”

                “Yeah.”

                “Good. I was just coming to get you. Follow me.” The nurse turned back around and went down another hallway. Everyone followed her. “He keeps screaming for you. We can’t get him to calm down.” She held the door open for Smalls, then closed it before anyone else could go in. “Only two people are allowed in at a time, but only Sabrina needs to be in there until Daniel calms down.” She then turned to Specs. “Your grandfather is cleaning up, then he’ll be over here.”

                “Thank you, Cindy.”

 

*** 

 

                “Sabrina! Sabrina, where are you!? Sabrina!” Echo was frantically thrashing around on his hospital bed.

                “I’m here! I’m right here. It’s me. It’s Sabrina.” Smalls ran to his side and grabbed the hand that didn’t have an IV in it.

                “Sabrina? Oh, thank god. Where are we? It’s dark.” He brought his other hand up and held it in front of his face as if he were trying to see it through the darkness.

                “…Danny, what’s the last thing you remember?”

                “I remember sitting in the shop. I remember a loud knock on the door. Then…I don’t remember after that.”

                “You don’t remember the- ...uh, you don’t remember us coming to see you?”

                “You came to see me? What for?”

                “Yeah, it was me, Sniper, and Racetrack. We came to ask you something, but…something happened.”

                “What did you want to ask me?”

                “It’s not important now. It can wait.”

                “No, what was it? You’ve got me interested now.”

                Smalls sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. “We came to ask you if you could band together some supporters and join the city-wide protest.”

                “Oh, yeah, definitely. We just have to get out of this place first. Wherever this place…are we in a hospital? It smells like a hospital.”

                “Yeah, we’re in a hospital.”

                “Why is it so dark? Is the power out?”

                “Daniel…oh god, how do I explain this? Danny, something…something happened. To you. And, uh, you had to go to the hospital.”

                “The hospital? I can’t afford-”

                “Specs’ grandfather is taking care of it. Don’t worry. Anyways, you had to have surgery.”

                “Surgery? What kind of surgery?”

                “An…enucleation?”

                “I don’t speak doctor. You’re killin’ me, Smalls.” He smiled at his own joke.

                “Oh my god. It’s…It’s…”

                “Come on, Smalls, spit it out already.”

                “It’s eye removal surgery.”

                “…Oh. Heh. So that’s why everything’s dark.” His voice suddenly got quieter. “Both of them?”

                “Yeah. Both of them.”

                He slowly nodded, then stayed still. They sat there for a few minutes, then he turned his head to her. “I remember now. There were…four of them? Maybe five? Yeah, five. One held down my legs. One held down my arms. One held my left eye open, while another held my right eye open. The other one straddled my torso and-” He cut himself off when his voice cracked. He waited a few seconds, then cleared his throat and continued. “It hurt so much, Smalls. I-I was kind of okay by the time you guys got there, but I had some _stupid_ glimmer of hope that everything would be alright and I’d wake up being able to see again. I mean, I guess I’m glad I’m alive, but _shit_.”

                “I’m so, so sorry, Danny. I swear on my life, if I ever find out who did this, they’ll regret being born.” Smalls quietly sniffled as tears rolled down her cheeks.

                “As long as I’m there to hear them begging for mercy.” He cracked a small smile, then frowned again. “They were all taller than me. And, you know me. I’m a good six feet. They were some big dudes. They kept saying something about ‘Boss Delancey’ and how he was ‘going to be happy’ about what they did. Sick fucks, if you ask me. It was really weird, though. They said they wanted to get into the shop, but after they did that shit to me, they just left. I wonder-”

                “Hold on. Did…Did you say ‘Delancey?’” Her mouth dried up and her throat became tighter.

                “Yeah, why?”

                “Did you happen to hear the names ‘Oscar’ or ‘Morris’ at any point?”

                “…A few times.”

                “Oh shit. Oh. My. God. _Oh_ my god. Oh my _fuckity fucking fucker fuck._ Fuck. Oh my shitting fuck.” Smalls began to laugh.

                “Sabrina? You’re starting to worry me.”

                “Is it okay if I bring someone else in here? I need someone to hold me back before I rip this whole goddamn building from its foundation.”

                “…Yeah? Go ahead.”

                “Alright. I’ll be right back.” She reluctantly slipped her hand out of Echo’s, then got up and stuck her head out of the door. She would invite Sniper in, but Sniper would react in almost exactly the same way. She needed someone who could keep a level head. “Hey, Davey? Could you come in here for a minute?”

                David looked around at the others, shrugged, then followed her into the room. “Is everything-”

                “I’m going to tear this entire _fucking_ building apart, David Jacobs.”

                “Wow, okay. That’s my full name. Uh, why are you going to tear the entire building apart?”

                “Is that Davey? Hey, Davey.” Echo waved in their general direction.

                “Should I tell him or should you?” Smalls spat at her brother furiously.

                “I still don’t know what you’re upset about.” Echo shrugged.

                Smalls huffed. “My brother said that the _fuckers_ who did this to him kept mentioning a ‘Boss Delancey.’”

                “You mean…?”

                “Yup, Plus, he said that they were throwing their names around, too. I’m going to _kill_ them, Davey. Wiesel is going to be plucking their noses out of their asses once I’m done with them.”

                “Are, uh…Are there any other people with the last name ‘Delancey’ around here?”

                “How many people do you fucking know named ‘Oscar Delancey’ and ‘Morris Delancey!?’”

                “Okay, okay. Why would they send people to hurt your brother?”

                “They’re evil. Why wouldn’t they?”

                “No, I mean why him?”

                “Hell, I don’t…Echo said it seemed weird.”

                “Weird how?”

                “He said that they showed up wanting to get into the shop, but after they basically tortured him, they just left.”

                David looked down at the floor, his eyebrows creased in confusion as he thought. After a few seconds, his eyes widened in realization. “They’re trying to break us down. That’s the only possibility I can think of. They took Crutchie’s crutches. They took Hot Shot. They took your brother’s sight. They’re just going to keep taking things from us until we finally break.”

                “So what do we do? Give up?”

                “No.”

                “Ooo, do we take things from them?”

                “No. That’s fighting fire with fire. That won’t get us anywhere. We need to fight their forest fire with a bucket of water until our bucket of water becomes a tsunami.”

                “Do I still get to beat the shit out of them?”

                “I can’t tell you what you can and can’t do, but I wouldn’t. You know how that’ll turn out.”

                “Yeah.” Smalls angrily huffed. She was still fuming, but she didn’t seem to feel the need to put her fist through the wall anymore.

                “Go sit down, alright? Take some deep breaths, calm down, and get some rest. We won’t be in here for much longer. I looked it up and patients are usually released after surgery.”

                Smalls hesitated, then sat down in the chair in the corner of the room. Within a few seconds, she passed out.

                David smiled softly, then walked over to Echo’s bed. “How are you doing?”

                “Pretty well, considering…yeah. Can I…Can I, uh…?” He held up his hand and wiggled his fingers. David grabbed his hand. “Thanks. Hey, who are Oscar and Morris Delancey?”

                “They’re bad news. They’re the biggest bullies in our school, aside from our principal. Their uncle is the nurse, so they never get in trouble. They do some terrible things, but this is a whole new level. If my theory is correct, then I’m really sorry that-”

                “Hey, no. I’d die for this revolution. They could tear me limb from limb and I’d still fight. Just promise that you’ll keep to your little ‘tsunami’ speech. No giving up, no matter the cost, alright?”

                “No matter the cost. I promise.”

 

***

 

                Hot Shot wanted to leave their body. It was dark. It was cramped. It smelled like piss, blood, and vomit. Does blood have a smell? They didn’t know, but if it does, then that’s what it smelled like. How long had they been in there? The protest started at…3:10, maybe? If it lasted a good ten minutes, and they were taken about ten minutes after it ended…they were put in there at about 3:30, right? God, they hated this. Everything hurt. They didn’t want to be thinking about math, but they wanted to know what time it was. Snyder had already left, so they couldn’t ask him. Not that he would tell them, anyway. Even if he did, how could they be sure he was telling the truth? They were too tall for that…that  _torture_ device. What the hell was that smell? Was…Was that food? Had Snyder left food out? They could open the small door to look, but Snyder could be on the other side, just waiting for them to give in. They had heard him leave earlier, but that could’ve just been a trick. It was getting hard to breathe. How did other kids survive this thing? Maybe because they were smaller than them? Were they going to suffocate? It sure felt like it.

                Someone was going to come for them. Someone had to. Snyder wasn’t going to let them out. That wasn’t how it went. They either had to escape themselves, or they had to wait for someone to come rescue them. When Snyder first started doing it, kids tried to escape themselves, because he tricked them into thinking he had left. When he caught them, well…the kids were too terrified to recount the story. No one tried to escape themselves anymore, but…

                The walls were getting closer together. That’s what it felt like, anyway. They didn’t know how much longer they could keep it together. Their breaths were becoming shorter. Their throat and chest burned with every deep inhale due to them being hunched over for so long. Their mind was screaming, “ _get out! get out! get out! get out!_ ” They finally made their decision.

                Hot Shot shoved their fingers underneath the small door and pushed it up. There wasn’t much light to adjust to, so they didn’t have to waste time regaining their vision. They pushed themselves out and immediately crumpled to the floor. They crawled over to the nearest trashcan and emptied their lunch, then stood on shaky legs. They looked behind them to see that “The Refuge” was an old dumbwaiter. Why was it called that? They didn’t know. That was all the time they could waste. Snyder was nowhere in sight. They found the door and quickly recognized the smell of the hallway. They were in the school. Had they been in Snyder’s office the entire time? Is that where “The Refuge” was? Snyder had them blindfolded when he put them in there, so they didn’t know.

                What was that? Was that…a footstep? Two? Three? Run. They had to run. Hot Shot took off into a very clumsy sprint and tried to remember their way around the high school. Which way was the entrance? It was…beside Snyder’s office. Shit. There was no time to go back. They rounded the corner, then ran straight forward. They ran into a door. Shit. Hopefully, it wasn’t very loud. They pressed a hand onto the door and felt the familiar texture of newspaper. It was the club room. They breathed a sigh of relief, then opened the door. They quickly shut it back and locked it. They rushed to the back of the classroom and nearly slid into a corner. Everything went black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry


	14. So's the Bronx!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack comes up with an idiotic plan that just might work, the author starts putting their OCs in relationships, Echo gets his revenge, and Jack has a nice talk with Pulitzer.
> 
>  
> 
> (This feels a bit rushed but eh)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warnings: Swearing, child abuse, surgery mention, torture mention, "s" slur (the one that starts with "s" and ends with "t"), homophobia, deadnaming, implied sexual content, violence.
> 
>  
> 
> (Y'all, idk why I do this to these poor children.)

 

                The day after the protest, they all walked into the club room. Crutchie was unhappily stuck in a wheelchair until they either found his crutches or found him new ones. JoJo limped everywhere he went, but he was managing it. Smalls had gone throughout the entire day without pummeling Oscar and Morris into the ground, so everything was going pretty well…

                “Hot Shot!” Spot threw his books across the room and slung his backpack along with them. He ran to the back of the room and slid next to his best friend. “Hot Shot, hey. Can you hear me?” He grabbed them by the shoulders and shook them.

                “Wha’?” Hot Shot asked groggily. They opened their eyes, then immediately squeezed them shut to block out the light.

                “Are you alright? Jesus, you smell terrible.”

                “Thanks.” They groaned.

                “Is that vomit on your shirt?”

                “Wouldn’t doubt it.”

                “What happened?”

                “Snyder.”

                “Wow. No, really? I guess I wasn’t listening when Charlie crawled his way to our safe spot talking about how scared you looked.” Spot scoffed.

                “What do you want me to say? Want me to recount my entire experience to you?” Hot Shot wasn’t usually like this, and it just fueled Spot’s aggravation even more.

                “A straight answer would be nice. Your quietness usually doesn’t bother me, but right now that’s the exact opposite of what I want.”

                “Well, it looks like neither of us is getting what we want.” Hot Shot pushed themselves up off of the floor and walked away.

                “And what do you want exactly?” Spot stood up and threw his arms out beside him.

                “I want to go to sleep without having to wake myself up every five minutes to make sure no one has found me to take me back to that...that place.” They clenched their jaw and wrapped their arms around themselves.

                Spot softened. “Richie…what did he do?”

                “Took me to ‘The Refuge.’ It’s an old dumbwaiter in his office. He shut me up in there and wouldn’t let me out to use the bathroom or eat. The entire thing smelled like piss and vomit. It was so…tiny. The walls were getting too close together. I think he left food outside to tempt me. He was there all night. I just so happened to escape when he wasn’t in there.” They sighed and collapsed into a computer chair.

                “Rich, I’m so sorry.” Spot tried to give Hot Shot a hug, but they moved away.

                “Just…tell me what I missed yesterday.”

                Spot backed away and nodded at David.

                “Uh…well, everyone else made it out, some of us split up to go recruit other cities and boroughs, and we had a…uh…medical emergency.”

                “And?”

                “…‘And?’”

                “Did we have any luck? With the other cities and boroughs?”

                “Oh! Yes, actually. Albert?”

                Albert stepped forward. “We have Flushing.”

                “We have Richmond,” Romeo said.

                “We have Woodside.” Blink and Mush said in unison.

                “We have Brooklyn,” Elmer said since Spot didn’t seem to be in a talking mood anymore.

                Everyone turned to Smalls. She was staring at her phone screen.

                “Smalls?” Jack whispered and nudged her with his elbow.

                She snapped out of it and looked up. “Oh, yeah, sorry. We have the Bronx. Echo’s trying to figure out the app I installed on his phone that reads his texts out loud.”

                “How hard can it be to figure out?” Albert questioned.

                “The doctors said that he’s going to have a headache for about one to two days after his surgery, so he’s supposed to take two Tylenol every four hours. Well, it turns out that he only has Tylenol PM in his shop, so he’s been fighting off sleep all day, like an idiot. He’s a bit loopy right now.” Smalls explained.

                “…Surgery?”

                “Oh, right. Basically, Oscar and Morris sent some dudes to go torture my brother because they’re trying to take shit from us and break us down one by one.”

                “Whoa, torture?” Kid Blink asked.

                “Yeah. They cut his eyes up and he had to get them removed.”

                The entire room erupted in shouting.

                “They did what!?”

                “I can’t believe this!”

                “We should just call this thing off!”

                “Why!?”

                “Because people are getting hurt!”

                “Is that really a change from what already happens?”

                “Why can’t we just have an unofficial, outside of school GSA?”

                “No!”

                “We can’t give up!”

                “Five minutes of peace and quiet. That’s all I want!”

                “We already have support from half of fucking New York City! We can’t just call everyone up and be like, ‘Oop! We’re calling it off! Have a nice day!’”

                “Technically, we could. Is it a good idea? No, it isn’t.”

                “Can everyone just calm down for ten seconds?”

                “Hey!” Jack yelled. He was standing on top of a table at the front of the club room with a megaphone in hand. The room quieted down. He placed the megaphone down on the table. “We aren’t calling it off!”

                “Then what do you suggest we do!?” Henry exclaimed.

                Jack clenched his jaw and thought. “I say we have the next protest after school.”

                “After school? As in today?” David questioned.

                “Yeah. Today.”

                “We don’t have the time! People need more than a forty-minute heads up, Jack!”

                “Every day we wait is a day we lose, Davey. You said it yourself.”

                “I know, but-” He cut himself off. He dragged a hand down his face and groaned. “How long would it take for people to get here?”

                “It’ll take Flushing about an hour to get here, depending on the traffic,” Albert answered.

                “It’ll take Richmond a good hour and a half.”

                “It’ll take Woodside about forty-three minutes.”

                “It’ll take the Bronx about an hour.”

                “It’ll take Brooklyn about an hour and twenty minutes.”

                “That’s quite a bit of time, Jack. I think we should wait.” David raised an eyebrow at his boyfriend.

                “What if we ask everyone else? See what they think? If everyone is willing to come out here today, then I say we go ahead and do it. Call Flushing, Richmond, Woodside, the Bronx, and Brooklyn.”

                “We don’t even know if Echo as gotten anyone yet. He said he’d do it, but he’s been a little bit busy.”

                “You underestimate my brother and his priorities. His health is always last.” Smalls already had her phone pressed to her ear. The others took that as a sign to go through with Jack’s plan.

                “This is unbelievable.” David sighed.

 

 ***

 

 

                About two hours after school ended, everyone from the first protest was back in the auditorium. Jack’s plan had worked and David still didn’t believe it.

                “This is unbelievable.” David sighed again.

                “As you’ve said every ten minutes since I made this plan.” David just glared at him and folded his arms over his chest. “Babe, relax.”

                “I can’t relax, Jack. People got hurt. People still might get hurt. _You_ could get hurt.”

                “I know, hon. But, we’re doing the right thing. Look at all of these people. They’re here because they believe in human rights, just like we do. If you ask me, that’s worth getting hurt for.” Jack moved behind David and hugged him from behind, slowly swaying back and forth.

                “Yeah.” David closed his eyes, smiled, and leaned into Jack.

                Slowly, large groups of people began to fill up the auditorium. Once they were sure no one else was coming, Jack clicked on his megaphone. “Sound off!” He then turned to David. “I love this thing.”

                David chuckled and shook his head.

                “Brooklyn’s here!” Kenny stood and held the cane above his head.

                “Manhattan’s here!” Race stood.

                “Flushing’s here!” A boy with a green Mohawk stood.

                “Staten’s here!” A short kid wielding a baseball bat stood.

                “Woodside’s here!” A girl with a blonde pixie cut and rainbow contacts stood.

                It took a few seconds, but the doors of the auditorium suddenly flew open. Before anyone could react, a large crowd of people from small children to elders flooded in. At the front was Echo, being held up on the shoulders of another boy who was somehow taller than him. “So’s the Bronx!” He shouted.

                “Oh my god.” Smalls groaned and face-palmed. The large group dispersed throughout the auditorium. The tall boy walked to the front and helped Echo down. He immediately plopped down in Smalls’ lap. “Oh god! Get off of me, Tall-Ass!” She struggled to push her brother off.

                “Shhhhh. It’s okay.” He pressed a finger to her lips and maneuvered himself to where he was sprawled out across her, Sniper, Race, Spot, Albert, and Elmer. “So, how’s everyone doing?” He smiled up at Race.

                “You’re supposed to be resting.” Smalls ignored his question.

                “I got bored.” He shrugged.

                “Do you want me to take him-” Sniper started.

                Echo reached up and put his hand over Sniper’s mouth. “Shhhhhh.”

                “She bites, Echo.” Race joked.

                Echo immediately pulled his hand back. “I’m not leaving. You can’t make me. I’m a responsible adult.”

                “You’re sixteen. We’re both sixteen. We’re _twins_.” Smalls pinched the bridge of her nose and shook her head. “Hey, Jack! Could we get this show on the road before I punch my brother out of annoyance?”

                “Yes! Uh, everyone go to the front of the school! Yes, just like last time. If the cops show up, they’ll just have to arrest half of New York City, won’t they!?” Everyone stood and cheered, then left the auditorium.

                Turns out they didn’t all fit outside of the school. They had to flood onto school grounds as well. This time, the protest wasn’t playful, happy, or anything like that. There were no signs. There were no costumes. They were there on a mission. Even the small children like Les and Valeria knew that this was serious. It had been serious since the beginning, of course, but this just proved it. They wholeheartedly believed in their cause and it stretched way beyond a simple school in Lower Manhattan. Pulitzer could call anyone he wanted, but _none_ of them were going down without a fight.

                When the front door to the school opened, the entire crowd tensed up. They weren’t going to initiate a fight, but if it came to them, they were ready. It was Wiesel and his nephews. Wiesel was looking down at his keys, so he didn’t see the crowd, but Oscar and Morris quickly pulled him back. The three of them looked out at the large crowd with widened eyes, then nearly fell over each other trying to get back inside.

 

 ***

 

                “Hannah! They’re back!” Wiesel whisper-yelled as he tumbled into the office with his nephews.

                “And who would that be, Mr. Wiesel?” Hannah replied, not looking away from her computer screen as she typed with one hand and popped a blueberry in her mouth with the other.

                “You know exactly who we’re talking about, slut?” Morris sneered.

                Hannah didn’t give him the satisfaction of responding to his insult. “I suggest taking any and all problems regarding the large crowd of people outside to Mr. Pulitzer, as I can’t do anything about it.” She popped another blueberry in her mouth. They rolled their eyes at her, then marched past her and entered Pulitzer’s office, slamming the door behind them. “Morons.” She muttered. She hesitated, sighed, then put the lid on her blueberries and put them in a large filing cabinet. She opened the small drawer underneath her desk and pulled out a gay pride pin the size of her fist. She pinned it to her shirt and left the building.

 

 ***

 

 

                When the doors opened, they all tensed again. However, it was just Hannah. As she neared, they could all see the pin attached to her chest. She took her place beside Medda.

                “Good to have you, Ms. Hannah.” Jack gave her an earnest smile. She smiled back and nodded.

                “What made you join?” Medda questioned, genuinely curious.

                “I’ve supported the cause since the very beginning. I’ve just been scared. But now I could care less. If I get fired, so be it. If I get called a slut, so be it. If I-”

                “Whoa, whoa. Did someone call you…that?” Jack asked.

                “Oscar and Morris Delancey, the spoiled brats.”

                “Oh my _god_. I’ll kill them for you, Ms. Hannah. I already have a bone to pick with them.” Smalls ground her fist into her hand. Hannah wasn’t opposed to the idea if she was being honest with herself.

                “Jack! Are we ready?” Kenny called out from the back of the crowd.

                In response, Jack held his hand up in the air. He slowly put every finger down until he was left with a fist. When he was down to his fist, the entire crowd started singing in unison. It took him a few seconds, but David suddenly realized that it was the speech he gave them a few days before.

                “We used your little pep talk. Hope you don’t mind, baby.” Jack smiled at David.

                “When did you find the time to do this?” David smiled back.

                “Actually, this was Katherine’s idea. She has good ideas every once in a- Ow!” Katherine whacked Jack in the back of the head.

                David chuckled, then began singing along when he caught onto the tune.

 

                “ _Now is the time to seize the day._

_Stare down the odds and seize the day._

_Minute by minute, that’s how you win it._

_We will find a way, but let us seize the day._

_Courage cannot erase our fear._

_Courage is when we face our fear._

_Tell those with power, safe in their tower: we will not obey._ ”

 

                As the others kept singing, Jack grabbed David’s hand and led him up to the front doors of the school building. Following them was Katherine, Sarah, Smalls, Echo, Kenny, Caper, Smoke, Texas, Damiana, and Spot. Jack, David, Kenny, and Spot entered the office, while the others remained in the hallway.

 

 

 ***

 

                “How are we doing today, gents?” Jack threw open the door to Pulitzer’s office and marched in, then plopped down in one of his chairs.

                “You’re behind this,” Pulitzer growled.

                “Actually, it was more of me _and_ my boyfriend here. Oh, yes. You heard that right. Boy-Friend. As in I, a man, am dating David, another man. God forbid, am I right?”

                “You must’ve forgotten how I feel about that. It is vile, disgusting, and-”

                “Then what does that make you!? This entire thing started because you can’t handle people who are different from you. All you had to do was let us have a club, but you couldn't even do that. I’ll tell you this, Pulitzer. You might have your hands around this neighborhood, but now this is a city-wide issue and we aren’t afraid to take you to court.” David snapped. The entire room stared at him. Even Jack was a bit shocked.

                “City-wide.” Pulitzer scoffed in disbelief.

                Spot moved across the room and pulled the blinds open. “Take a look outside, Pulitzer. Since you haven’t figured it out, we have you surrounded.”

                Pulitzer stood up and moved to the window. He looked out and quickly noticed the significant increase in people from last time.

                “So, what do you say?” Spot asked.

                Pulitzer ignored him. “Miss Sullivan, if I may speak to you…alone.”

                “Oh, I’m sorry. Hold on. I don’t see a Miss Sullivan in this room. Do you, Kenny?” Spot glared at Pulitzer. If looks could kill, he’d be dead.

                “Afraid not, boss.” Kenny brought the cane into view and tightened his grip on it.

                “…Mr. Kelly, if I may speak to you alone.” Pulitzer clenched his teeth and forced out.

                Slowly, everyone left, leaving only Jack and Pulitzer in the office.

 

 ***

 

 

                “So, what’s your name?” Damiana walked up to Smoke and leaned against the locker next to him.

                Smoke looked her up and down, then turned to face her completely. “Sheridan. Everyone calls me Smoke, though.”

                “Sheridan. Is that Irish?”

                “Yeah, it is.”

                “What does it mean?” She stepped closer to him.

                “Wild one. Untamed.” He mimicked her action.

                “How funny. Mine’s Damiana. Sometimes Damian. It means ‘one who tames.’” She smirked.

                “Oh yeah? That is funny.”

                “How about when this is all over, we go somewhere and see if those meanings hold any truth?” She grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him closer to her.

                “Sounds great.” He replied with slightly widened eyes.

                “Oh my god, y’all. Get a fucking room.” Texas groaned as he took a seat on the floor next to Caper. “Can you believe that? I wish an attractive human would just come up to me like that.” Caper snorted and rolled her eyes. Texas opened his mouth to say something but closed it when he felt someone tapping on his shoulder. He looked up to see Echo smiling at him.

                “I’m not sure about the attractive part, but I’m a human.” Echo smirked. He would’ve winked if he was able. “I like your accent. Are you from the South?”

                Texas stood up and put his hands in his pockets. “Yeah. Texas. My name’s Lee, but everyone calls me Texas, for obvious reasons.”

                “I’m Daniel, but everyone calls me Echo.”

                “Why?”

                “For obvious reasons.” Echo perfectly mimicked Texas, much like he did with Albert when they first met. Smalls tugged Echo back and whispered something into his ear. Echo’s smirk grew larger and he held his hand out for Texas to take. “Want to help me kick some ass in a few minutes?”

                Texas took his hand. “Sure thing, sugar.”

                Echo bit his lip. “Damn. I’m in love with you already.”

                Texas chuckled and started leading him down the hallway. “Wait. Where are we even going?”

                “My sister said something about a gym. She said to go straight, then take a right and-”

                “Ah, there it is.” They both took a right and headed for the doors to the room labeled “Gymnasium.” Texas held a door open and led Echo through it.

                “Ooo, what a gentleman.” Echo teased.

                Texas smiled and led him over to the bleachers. “So, whose ass are we kicking?”

                “Oscar and Morris Delancey. If they leave the office, that is. They, uh…they sent people to come to fuck me up as part of their plan to break the revolution down. This is the result.” Echo’s voice lost its playful tone as he pointed at the bandages.

                “Echo…I’m sorry.”

                Echo shrugged. “It could be worse. I could be dead. But, hey, if I get to rip those brothers some new assholes, then I’ll be satisfied.”

                “That’s the spirit.” Texas chuckled.

                Echo smiled and rested his head on Texas’ shoulder. “What do you look like?”

                “What do I- Uh…I have really curly hair. It’s dark brown. Green eyes. Mocha skin.”

                “What shade of green?”

                “…Grass, maybe? Is that a shade?”

                “I’ll take it.” Echo laughed.

                A few seconds later, the doors flew open.

                “Alright. We’re in here. What the hell did you want to talk to us about, dyke?” Oscar questioned as he and his brother strolled farther into the gym. Morris spotted Echo and Texas on the bleachers and whacked Oscar in the arm to get his attention. “Oh, it’s you.”

                Echo stood. “Oscar and Morris, I take it.” He tried to walk down the bleachers himself, but he started to stumble. Thankfully, Texas was there to catch him and help him down.

                “You’d be right. Say, how are your eyes doing?” Echo could hear the smirk in Morris’s voice.

                “Nonexistent. Thanks for asking.” He spat in response. “So, which one of you is ‘Boss Delancey?’”

                “Oh, that’d be me.” Oscar raised his hand and wiggled his fingers, even though Echo couldn’t see it.

                In one swift motion, Texas had Oscar’s arms pinned behind his back and Caper, who had been brought in by Smalls, had Morris’s arms pinned behind his back. They pushed them down onto their knees and held them there. The brothers struggled to get out of their grips, but it didn’t work.

                “Why?” Echo simply asked.

                “Why what?” Oscar replied.

                “Why did you do this? What was the purpose? I mean, we have a theory, but I want to know the real reason.”

                “I don’t have to tell you anything, you queer.”

                Echo brought his foot back, then drove it into Oscar’s face. “Tell me.”

                Oscar spit the blood out of his mouth. “No.”

                “Tell me!” Echo did it again.

                “No!” The cycle kept going on.

                “He’s not going to stop. I suggest saying something if you know it because once my brother’s done, you get to deal with me and I’m not as nice as he is.” Smalls glared down at Morris.

                “You’re going to get in so much trouble for this.”

                “Oh, I don’t care. I’m tired of not being able to kick your ass.” Smalls grabbed Morris by the hair and the jaw and forced him to watch Echo pounding Oscar’s face in with his foot. When Oscar cast a pleading glance to Morris, he broke.

                “Okay, okay! Fine! It wasn’t supposed to be you.” Morris exclaimed.

                Echo stopped and took a step back. “You want to repeat that?”

                “It wasn’t supposed to be you. The guy in the building next to you owed Oscar some money and his guys got the wrong building.”

                The entire room went so quiet that you could hear Oscar’s blood dripping to the floor. Smalls released Morris and stepped away. Echo clenched and unclenched his fists at his sides as he searched for something to say.

                “Are you- I can’t- How do you just- Okay! First of all, that isn’t how you handle that, you ridiculous fuck! I can understand sending people to scare them, but sending people to ruin their life? You’re fucking sick. Second of all, I- God, _fuck_! I can’t believe this. Do you even feel guilty?”

                “Not really. Especially not after finding out what you are, what you’re related to, and what you cater to.” Oscar weakly responded.

                An entirely new surge of anger rippled through Echo’s body. This time, he drove his foot into Oscar’s stomach. Smalls looked down at Morris and punched him square in the nose. She then gestured for Caper and Texas to let them go. Morris scrambled over to Oscar and pulled him up off of the ground. They both quickly left the room. Smalls looked over at Echo and caught him before he crumpled to the floor. He pressed his face into her shoulder and sobbed, but no tears came out.

 

*** 

 

                “I cannot just _give_ you a club.” Pulitzer leaned against his desk and watched the crowd outside his window.

                “Well, yeah. I’m young, I’m not stupid.”

                “Good. Thank you for understanding.” Pulitzer went to sit down.

                “But that doesn’t mean you can refuse us and treat us like garbage.”

                “What if I let you have the club, but you have to gain your own funding? It’s a compromise we can all live with.” Pulitzer sighed.

                “But you let us use a building on campus to come up with the money.”

                Pulitzer jumped up. “That was never on the table!”

                “It is now! You let us have this and you get to avoid a lawsuit and the possibility of losing your job, along with everything else you haven’t already cut out of your life. We were all willing to risk everything for this cause, but are you?” Jack got in his face. “It’s a compromise we can all live with!”

                Pulitzer narrowed his eyes, then relaxed. “Fine.”

 

***

 

                Everyone was back outside. They all quieted their singing when Jack exited the building with Pulitzer.

                “Allies of New York City!” He paused, then shouted, “We won!” The entire crowd erupted in cheers and applause. Everyone immediately started hugging each other and kissing their partners. “But there’s a small catch!” The scene halted. “We can have the GSA, but we have to come up with our own funding.”

                “How are we supposed to do that?” Ike questioned.

                A smile spread across Jack’s face. “A talent show.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (This baby is faaaaaar from being finished.)


	15. New Management

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Spot expresses his feelings, Jack sees something he isn't supposed to 2.0, Katherine gains strength, Crutchie introduces JoJo to one of the best musicals in existence, shit goes down, Sarah makes the entire auditorium cringe, Blink gets whacked in the head because he doesn't know how to knock, Albert deals with personal issues, and everyone gets wasted...except for Davey.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warnings: Swearing, f-slur, injury, mention of deadnaming, transphobia(kind of???), nsfw-ish, homophobia, alcohol & drug mention,

**~Thursday~**

                It was the next day of school and Spot was just about ready to lose his shit. He had held off on talking to Jack about this at home because he wanted to see if anyone else had any input.

                “Jack, you’re my brother and I love you, but I’m starting to really question your sanity level _and_ IQ.”

                “What do you mean?” Jack leaned back in his computer chair and stretched.

                “A talent show? Really? I mean, not to sound selfish, but _some_ of us don’t have talent.”

                “You have talent, Spot!”

                “Uh-huh. Name one talent I have.”

                “Well, you…uh…”

                “Exactly. And then there’s some of us who have talents that you can’t exactly showcase at an event like that.”

                Crutchie pointed at himself.

                “I don’t know. I think it’s a good idea.” Specs shrugged.

                “You’re a _dancer_ , Specs. You can _dance_.”

                “Touché.”

                “There’s other ways you can participate! You can do tech, you can be an announcer, you can…you can be a bouncer!”

                “A bouncer? For a high school talent show? The hell am I going to do, block anyone with a ‘God Hates Fags’ sign from coming in? Look, I just think you should take a group vote and see- actually, no. Half of you people are singers and dancers and instrument players. I’m fighting a losing battle. Hey, Hot Shot. Do you think this is fair?” Spot smiled hopefully at Hot Shot.

                “Don’t bring me into this.” They grumbled.

                “Ah, Hot Shot, come on. Do you have a talent?” It came off a little ruder than he wanted it to.

                “…What makes you think I don’t?”

                “I didn’t-”

                “Mhmm.”

                “Okay, Hot Shot.” Spot started using the most terrible fake British accent any of them had ever heard. “What will you be doing for us today?”

                “I can dance.” The entire room went dead silent. “What? Is it that hard to believe I have any form of talent?”

                “No, we believe you. We promise. You just haven’t really…shown much interest, you know?” Buttons responded.

                “True.” Hot Shot mumbled. They then stayed quiet.

                “Okay, back to the main issue. I feel like this is a bit unfair to people named Spot.” Spot shrugged.

                “Babe, relax. We’ll find something for you to do, alright? I personally like Jack’s idea.” Race stood up and walked over to Spot, then started rubbing his shoulders.

                “You play drums, sweetheart. _In a band_.” Spot argued.

                “And? It doesn’t matter if I’m talented or not. I know a good idea when I hear it, and I honestly think this is a good idea. You don’t have to agree, but at least give it a chance.”

                “…Alright, alright. Fine.” Spot grumbled and trudged to his seat in the back.

                They stayed silent until Buttons nearly fell out of her chair. “Hot Shot, do you know how to do a battement?” She questioned so quickly that the words ran together.

                “Yeah.” Hot Shot groaned.

                “Battement. Battement. Battement.” Buttons started chanting. Soon enough Specs and Tommy Boy joined her. “Battement. Battement. Battement. bATTEMENT. BATTEMENT. _BATTEMENT. BATTEMENT. BATTEMENT. **BATTEMENT. BAT**_ -”

                “Okay! Fucking Christ.” Hot Shot stood up and pulled their boots off, performed the movement, then quickly sat back down. “There. Happy?” The other three nodded excitedly.

                “Alright, so we need to figure this out. Five dollars for admission?” Jack asked. The others looked around at each other and murmured in agreement. “Okay. Uh, when should we do it? Dave?”

                “Well, we need time to think of our act, then we’ll need time to practice. However, we don’t want to wait too long just in case Pulitzer decides to go back on the deal. I’d say a week at a minimum, two weeks at a maximum.” David suggested.

                “Plus, I’d do it on a Friday. If people have homework, they most likely won’t come on any other day during the week. Also, if it runs late into the night, then people might not want to go if they have work or school the next day.” Smalls added.

                “So…next Friday, maybe? That’s about a week and a few days.” Jack shrugged. The others agreed.

 

*** 

 

                “God! Fucking fuck fuck!” Sniper screamed as she slammed her phone down on the bathroom counter. It shattered into pieces from the amount of force and at some point, her hand got cut up. “Oh, that’s fucking perfect.” She washed her hand then reached into her bag and grabbed a bandana. She attempted to tie the bandana around her hand, but it wasn’t working out for her. “Oh my fucking god!” She kicked the wall with her steel-toed boots and accidentally cracked one of the porcelain tiles. At that point, Katherine walked into the bathroom.

                “Hey, Sni…are you alright?” Katherine saw the mess and was immediately concerned.

                “Been better,” Sniper replied through clenched teeth.

                “What’s wrong?” Katherine shrugged her backpack off of her shoulders and placed her books down on the counter. “Everyone’s worried because of how you just stormed out of the club room. Smalls wanted to give you some time before she came and smothered you with her love and affection, but I had a bad feeling.” Katherine grabbed the bandana and tied it around Sniper’s hand for her.

                “Just…looking back at old shit and seeing where I went wrong. Pissed at myself mostly.” Sniper shrugged.

                “Do you want to talk about it?”

                Sniper shook her head.

                “…Do you want me to get Smalls? I won’t be upset.”

                Sniper nodded.

                “Alright, I’ll be right back.” Katherine grabbed her things and left. A few minutes later, Smalls came barreling through the door.

                “Hey! Came as quickly as I could. You al- Whoa, wait. What happened?” Smalls looked at Sniper’s hand, then at the crushed phone and back again. “Sniper, sweetheart, what’s going on?”

                “I was…looking back at old messages between my former best friend and me. I was looking for how many times she dead named me. Twenty-one times, Smalls. Twenty-one times she dead named me. Twenty-one times I didn’t correct her. If only I had corrected her…” Sniper wrapped her arms around herself and leaned back against the counter. Her bottom lip began to quiver, but she was fighting it back with all of her will.

                “Sniper, baby, don’t blame yourself. Don’t ever blame yourself. She _knew_ you didn’t like to be called that name. That’s her fault that she kept using it.” Smalls moved closer to her but didn’t touch her, because she knew that Sniper didn’t like being touched when she was like that.

                “But maybe she would’ve stopped if I corrected her.”

                “Sniper, when you met me, you introduced yourself with your dead name. I could tell that you were just about forcing it out of your mouth, but I didn’t question it. After you came up to me a few weeks later saying that you wanted to be called ‘Sniper,’ I didn’t use that other name again. That was because I was a respectful human being and didn’t want you to feel uncomfortable. Not once did I think, ‘Oh, it’s okay to use this name because I’m her friend.’ If she was a good friend, she’d know that it made you uncomfortable. I can understand messing up a few times and having to correct yourself, but she didn’t even do that.” Smalls was angry, to say the least, but she knew that anger wouldn’t help the situation.

                Sniper suddenly crumpled to the floor and let her tears crash onto the tiles. “This isn’t fair.” She whimpered.

                “What isn’t?” Smalls questioned as she positioned herself on the floor with her.

                “If I was a real girl, then I wouldn’t have to deal with that.”

                Smalls was about to spontaneously combust. “You _are_ a real girl, Sniper. What’s down there, up here, or on your birth certificate isn’t what makes you a girl. It’s what’s in here…and here.” She pointed to Sniper’s heart, then head. “And if anyone tries to tell you otherwise, I’ll kick their asses. Or I’ll make some popcorn as you kick their asses because you honestly do kick some serious ass.”

                Sniper smiled and laughed through the rivers of tears flowing down her face. “Thank you.” She whispered.

                “You’re welcome, baby. And, I know you might not believe any of what I said, but I honestly mean it.”

                Sniper smiled again and nodded, then scooted over and curled into her girlfriend’s side, a silent gesture meaning it was okay for Smalls to touch her.

                “I love you, Smalls.”

                “I love you, too, Sniper.”

 

*** 

 

                “Oh my god, what are we going to do!?” Buttons exclaimed.

                “I don’t know! Don’t ask me! Ask Specs!” Tommy Boy shouted back.

                “What? Me? I don’t know what to do!” Specs replied.

                “Jesus, you lot are so dramatic. It’s a talent show. We all know you’re going to dance.” JoJo rolled his eyes and groaned tiredly as he curled up in Buttons’ bed.

                “Well, duh, babe. We’re trying to choose a song.” Tommy Boy explained.

                Suddenly, Specs’ eyes lit up like he got the greatest idea ever created. “We should let JoJo choose.”

                “We should _not_ let JoJo choose.” Said boy responded, his voice muffled by a pillow.

                “We should _definitely_ let JoJo choose.” Buttons picked up a notebook and brought it over to JoJo. “Alright, so we’ve narrowed it down to these two.” She pointed to two songs on the paper.

                “…They’re literally the same song.” JoJo read the titles thrice to make sure he was getting this information correctly.

                “They are, but one is an idea where we sing _and_ dance, while the other idea is one where we _just_ dance.”

                “Seriously?”

                “Yep.”

                “Can’t you just like…rock-paper-scissors it or something?”

                “Nope. We want your input.”

                “Oh my god. I hate choosing things. Alright, uh, do the singing one.”

                “Thanks, hon!” Buttons kissed JoJo on the cheek.

                “Knew we could count on you.” Tommy Boy walked over and mimicked the action.

                “Yeah, thanks, bro.” Specs lightly punched JoJo on the shoulder.

                The three of them started out the door.

                “Hey, hey, wait. Where are you guys going?” JoJo whined.

                “We’re going to the library to print out flyers for auditions we’re holding. It’s a huge group number and three isn’t exactly a huge group.” Specs explained.

                “Do you want to come? I mean you look pretty comfortable, but if you-” Buttons started.

                “No, no. I’m good. Your bed is soft and nice. And I’m tired.” JoJo turned over to where his back was facing them and curled deeper into the bed.

                “Alright. Just, uh, watch out if my sister gets back before we do. She likes to draw on faces when people are asleep.” Buttons laughed, then closed the door.

 

***

 

**~Friday~**

                “So, sweetums, you want to do a duet?” Jack sprawled out across David’s lap as the other boy tried to think of an idea for the talent show.

                David thought about it. “Sure. You have any ideas?”

                “I was kind of hoping you did.” Jack smiled.

                “Okay, uh…have you heard of _Rent_?”

                “Babe, my mother is the drama teacher. I unwillingly know just about every musical and play in existence.”

                David rolled his eyes. “Well, I’ve always thought the song ‘What You Own’ would be beautiful if it were slowed down and on a piano.  I mean, it’s a great song already, but…you know what I’m trying to say. I would just need to find some sheet music.”

                “You can find that on Google, right?” Before David could respond, Jack jumped up and pulled David with him.

                “W-Where are we going?” David barely had time to turn his light off and close his door as he was dragged out of his bedroom.

                “We’re going to try something!” Jack excitedly pulled David down the stairs, out of the house, and into David’s van. Jack eagerly bounced up and down as he waited for David to get situated in the driver’s seat. “What are you waiting for?” He questioned.

                “I don’t know where we’re going, you absolute dork.” David smiled.

                “Oh! Right! To the school.”

                David started driving. “Are we even allowed to be on campus this late?”

                “You know, I don’t actually know. Guess we’ll find out, won’t we?”

                David immediately stopped the car. Good thing the street was empty. “ _Jack_.”

                “Babe, relax. I was kidding. Ma should still be working, but if she isn’t, we’ll go back to your house, alright? Or go do something else so that the drive wasn’t a complete waste.”

                David narrowed his eyes, then continued driving. When they arrived, Jack immediately recognized Medda’s car sitting all on its lonesome in the parking lot.

                “She’s been working late a lot. She says she’s working on a new play, but she won’t tell anyone about it. She keeps saying it’s a secret.” Jack explained as they walked to the auditorium. Instead of using the main entrance, they went in through the side, which led to Medda’s office. “Hey, M- Oh my god!”

                What they saw was _definitely_ not a play being written. Medda was lying across her desk with Hannah on top of her, straddling her waist and kissing her. Thankfully, they were clothed, but it was still awkward as hell due to the fact that they could see the obvious red and purple marks scattered across Hannah’s neck. Jack quickly slammed the door shut.

                “I’m traumatized,” Jack whispered as he placed his face in his hands.

                “I…I…” David was broken. He couldn’t even form words.

                A few minutes later, the door was opened. They had fixed themselves up a bit, but they were both a bit out of breath and Hannah’s skin was the shade of her hair.

                “So, heh, that’s one heck of a play you’re writing, Miss Medda.” David laughed awkwardly.

                “To be fair, I _was_ working on it, but then I got a bit…distracted.” She smiled sheepishly.

                “ _A bit_ distracted?” Jack still refused to uncover his face.

                Medda knew that Jack was just going to keep on acting dramatic if they dragged on the conversation, so she got to the point. “Did you boys, uh, need something?”

                Jack slowly moved his hands away from his face. “We’re trying to plan a duet for the talent show and I was wondering if we could use some old music from one of your unfinished projects to use.”

                “Oh, sure! I was actually looking at some of those earlier, so the folders should be on my- Oh.” Medda walked over to her desk and stopped when she saw the mess on the floor.

                David and Hannah started laughing at the exact same time. David was starting to get over the situation, but Jack was nowhere near getting over it.

                “Is it safe?” Jack questioned.

                “Yes, Jack, it’s safe. We honestly hadn’t done much before-”

                “No! No, no, no, no. Please don’t tell me about that.” Jack crouched down to the ground and started looking through the clutter of folders.

                Medda jokingly rolled her eyes, then walked back over to David. “I’m really sorry you boys saw that.”

                “Yeah, so am I,” Hannah added.

                “No, no, it’s okay. We should’ve knocked.” David rubbed the back of his neck.

                “It’s alright, baby. Don’t worry about it.” Medda laid a soft hand on David’s shoulder and gave him a smile.

                “Aha! Found it! Thanks, Ma!” Jack held up a folder, then raced out of the office through a different door.

                “…I’m guessing I should follow him.” David chuckled.

                “You boys have fun.” Medda patted him on the back.

                “We will.” David walked away after giving a smile and a nod to both of them then exited the office out of the same door that Jack went through. The door led into the auditorium. Jack was already at the large piano trying to figure out which songs to use.

                “Alright, babe. I’m thinking about these two. What do you think?” Jack pointed out the sheets he was talking about.

                David read over the notes and played them in his head, then set off to see if anything else would work. “What about these? Wait, no. That wouldn’t work.” He and Jack both went back to looking. At the same time, they pointed at two songs and asked, “What about these two?” They met each other’s eyes, then instantly scrambled to get into position. David slid into the bench at the piano, while Jack retrieved a stool from backstage. David waited for Jack to find the lyrics to “What You Own,” then started playing.

                “Whoa, wait. Hold on. Are we doing the entire song?” Jack questioned.

                David stopped playing. “You’re right. Do you have a piece of paper?”

                “Uh…let me look.” Jack stood up, then went backstage. He came back with an entire stack of paper.

                “Babe, that’s a lot of paper.”

                “Well, you never know if you might mess up.” Jack shrugged.

                David smiled, then grabbed a piece of paper. He pulled a pen out of his pocket and got to work. Within a few minutes, he had lyrics written down for both him and Jack. Some were from the original song, and others were from the music they had gotten from Medda. “How does that sound?” He asked.

                “It sounds…perfect.” Jack smiled.

                David snorted, then began to play again. ( **Jack** || _David_ || **_Both_** )

                “ **Don’t breathe too deep. Don’t think all day.** ”

                “ _Dive into work. Drive the other way._ ”

                “ **That drip of hurt**.”

                “ _When the bell rings._ ”

                “ **That pint of shame goes away, just play the game.** ”

                “ _You’re living in America at the end of the millennium. You’re living in America. Leave your conscience at the tone._ ”

                “ **And when you’re living in America at the end of the millennium…** ”

                “ ** _You’re what you own._** ”

                “ **The filmmaker cannot see.** ”

                “ _And the songwriter cannot hear._ ”

                “ **Yet I see Mimi everywhere.** ”

                “ _Angel’s voice is in my ear._ ”

                “ **Just tighten those shoulders.** ”

                “ _Just clench your jaw ‘til you frown_.”

                “ **Just don’t let go or you may** -”

                “ ** _-Drown._** **_You’re living in America at the end of the millennium. You’re living in America where it’s like the Twilight Zone. And when you’re living in America at the end of the millennium, you’re what you own. So I own not a notion. I escape and ape content. I don’t own emotion- I rent._** ”

                “ _What was it about that night?_ ”

                “ **Trapped where there ain’t no future.-** ”

                “ _What was it about that night?_ ”

                “- **Even at seventeen.** ”

                “ ** _Connection in an isolating age._** ”

                “ _For once the shadows gave way-_ ”

                “ **My friend, my old friend.** ”

                “ _-To light._ ”

                “ **Gave way to light.** ”

                “ ** _For once, I didn’t disengage. Dying in America at the end of the millennium. We’re dying in America to come into our own. And when you’re dying in America at the end of the millennium- We’ll all be out there, carrying the banner- you’re not alone. I’m not alone. I’m not alone._** ”

                David played a few more notes, then stopped. “So, what do you think? Should we do that one or something else?”

                Jack smirked and got up off of the bar stool, then slid onto the bench beside David. “You know, I was kind of thinking about something else.”

                “Oh, alright! Uh, what did you have in mind?” David wasn’t grasping what Jack was hinting at.

                “Well, I couldn’t help but notice how…aggressively you played that piano.” He slid closer to his boyfriend.

                “You knew I could play.” David’s eyebrows creased in confusion.

                “I was wondering…” Jack trailed off as he danced his fingers down the piano, onto David’s leg, up his arm, then up into his hair. David’s breath hitched and his eyes fluttered shut as he forced a whimper down. “…about what _else_ you could do with your hands.”

                Said hands gripped David’s pant legs until the knuckles were white as Jack lightly massaged David’s scalp. “J-Jack, we need to practice,” David whined.

                “We _will_ be practicing, Dave…just not for the talent show.”

                David abruptly stood up, his back facing Jack. Jack was genuinely worried that he did something wrong, but he didn’t have a chance to say anything. David grabbed him by the elbow and dragged him backstage into the prop room. As soon as he had the door closed, he threw Jack up against it. He instantly pinned Jack’s arms above his head with one hand, placed a knee in between his legs, and attached his lips and teeth to Jack’s neck. He slid his free hand into Jack’s back pocket. When he squeezed his ass, Jack’s hips flew forward and ground against David’s knee, causing the former to let out a loud whine.

                “Is everything alright? Do you want me to stop?” David whispered against Jack’s lips.

                “Y-Yes. I mean no. I mean-”

                “Is everything alright?”

                “Yes.”

                “Do you want me to stop?”

                “God no.”

 

*** 

 

**~Saturday~**

                “So, Smalls, you want to meet me at the park? I want to talk to you.” Katherine asked over the phone.

                Smalls shot up out of her bed. “Oh god. Did I do something wrong?”

                “No! No, you’re fine. It’s about the talent show.”

                “Oh, thank god. Alright, I’ll be there in a few minutes.” Smalls quickly got dressed and said goodbye to Sniper, Sniper’s dad, Echo, and Echo’s new boyfriend, Texas. (They had decided to pay a visit.) The park was only a few blocks away from Sniper’s house, so she didn’t have to ask anyone for a ride. When she got there, Katherine was there in her yellow Volkswagen, which was stuck at Pulitzer’s house the last time Smalls checked. She walked up to the door and knocked on the window. Katherine smiled brightly and shut the car off, then exited the car. “How’d you get this thing back? Didn’t he say he’d call the cops on you if you came back?”

                “He can’t call anyone on me if he wasn’t there to see it.” Katherine shrugged. She locked the car and walked away from it, leading Smalls to a secluded picnic table in the sparse forest of the park.

                “Who are you and what have you done with Katherine Plumber?” Smalls fake gasped.

                Katherine laughed and threw her arms up in an over-exaggerated shrug. “Alright, so, the talent show.”

                “Yes. That thing.” Smalls plopped down on one of the benches. Katherine sat down opposite of her.

                “I was wondering if you wanted to sing a duet with me.”

                Smalls started laughing. “You don’t even know if I can sing, Kath!”

                “I didn’t ask if you could sing, I asked if you wanted to do it.” Katherine raised an eyebrow.

                Smalls mimicked the action. “Depends on what the song is.”

                “I was thinking about ‘She Keeps Me Warm’ by Mary Lambert. Maybe split the verses or something?”

                Smalls thought for a few minutes, then nodded. “Sure, why not? Hey, what if Pulitzer shows up?”

                “Fuck him.”

                “Damn, Kath.”

                “Seriously! Fuck. Him. I could give a shit less about him and his ridiculous views at this point.”

                “What if he tries to shut us down or something? Or doesn’t let us do it?”

                “He can try.”

                “Alright then. Let’s do this.”

 

***

 

**~Sunday~**

                “Hey, JoJo, are you doing anything for the talent show?” Crutchie asked JoJo as they ate lunch together.

                “I want to. I just haven’t thought of anything yet. My partners are planning some huge, extravagant dance number, but that’s not really my thing. What about you?”

                “I want to do ‘Sixteen Going on Seventeen’ from _The Sound of Music_ , but I need someone to do it with me. My QPP- Hot Shot, if you didn’t know- doesn’t exactly like singing, so I need to find someone. Preferably someone I’m friends with that is tall, likes to sing, and looks a bit older than me, but I just can’t seem to find anyone.” Crutchie sighed and rested the side of his face on his palm.

                JoJo narrowed his eyes. “That must suck, huh?”

                “Yeah,” Crutchie muttered. He sighed again, this time a bit louder.

                “Alright. This is the part where I volunteer, isn’t it?”

                “Mhmm!” Crutchie’s face lit up as he nodded excitedly.

                JoJo hung his head down and groaned. “I mean, I could. I don’t really know that much about _The Sound of Music_ , but I could try.”

                Crutchie gasped. “You’ve never seen it?”

                “Nope. Never really had an interest in it.” JoJo shrugged.

                “Oh my god! Oh my god. That’s it. We’re going back to my house after this and we’re watching it.”

                “Seriously?”

                “You’re going to _love_ it.”

 

~A few hours later~

 

                “I want to cry, Crutchie.”

                “But did you hate it?”

                “No! I loved it!”

                “Told you!”

 

***

 

**~Monday~**

                When the group got to school, everything was normal. They hung out together in the morning, then went to their respective first periods when the bell rang. However, halfway through first period, they were all called to the front of the school. Not just them, however. Everyone who participated in the protest. They didn’t know what to expect. They were all nervous, to say the least. They didn’t know if they were in trouble, if Pulitzer had decided to call off the deal, or something like that. When they got outside, there was no one out there. They all just stood there looking around at each other until the cops showed up. They all prepared to bolt but were left confused when the cops raced right past them and into the school. A singular officer walked around, observing the crowd. He finally walked up to David and Jack.

                “Are you David Jacobs?” He questioned.

                “Y-Yes, sir. I am.” David anxiously brought a hand up and wiggled his fingers.

                “You’re the one who organized the protest, correct?”

                “I w-wouldn’t say I’m solely responsible, sir, but yes.”

                “…Good. I’ve wanted to meet you for quite some time now. That was some movement you kids put together.”

                David’s eyes widened. “Oh, thank you, sir.” He smiled.

                “I’m Sergeant Brian Denton for the New York State Police. Your sister sent in quite a few letters, so we were sent down here to deal with the problem.”

                “Problem?” Jack raised an eyebrow. “Oh, and I’m Jack Kelly.”

                “Nice to finally meet you, Mr. Kelly. And, yes, problem. You see, actions performed by Mr. Pulitzer and Mr. Wiesel go against the state’s Dignity for All Students Act, and not to mention the injustices committed by Mr. Snyder and both Mr. Delancey’s. Ms. Jacobs got Mr. Daniel Hunt to describe…in detail…his situation with the brothers, and I assure you that the situation will be fully investigated. Meanwhile, the now former police chief, an associate of Mr. Pulitzer, has been replaced by a very trustworthy man, Chief Kloppman. Also, I assume you already know the new management of Pearst High School, which has now been renamed “Portum High School.” Denton stepped to the side and pointed toward the entrance.

                Just outside of the front doors stood Hannah, Medda, and Specs’ grandfather. Everyone immediately started cheering.

                “’Portum?’ That’s…” Jack trailed off.

                “Latin. It means ‘haven.’” David explained, a smile on his face and his eyes glossy.

                Suddenly, the cheering turned into boos. Pulitzer, Wiesel, Snyder, Oscar, and Morris were being forced out of the building by multiple officers.

                “It’s Snyder the Spider!” Race exclaimed, sticking his tongue out.

                “You aren’t looking so tough anymore, are you?” Mush laughed and fake-charged at Snyder. Snyder tried to move toward them, but he was yanked back by the officer pushing him along. As he walked by, he got two middle fingers from Hot Shot and a strike to the ass with one of Crutchie’s crutches.

                All of a sudden, someone ran up behind David and he nearly jumped out of his skin. It was Sarah. “I’m not too late, am I? I’m not really supposed to be here, but I wanted to see these pricks get dragged off.”

                “Nah, they just brought Snyder out,” Jack responded.

                “Alright, good. Hey, where’s- there she is!” Sarah maneuvered her way through the crowd until she got to Katherine. “Hey, sweetheart!”

                “Hey, baby. I heard you wrote quite the story.” Katherine giggled.

                “Damn right I did.” Sarah wrapped an arm around her girlfriend’s shoulders and smiled at her.

                Next, Wiesel was brought out, followed by Oscar and Morris. They received their fair share of teasing and insults. Finally, Pulitzer was brought out. If you thought the crowd couldn’t get any louder, you were sorely mistaken. As he walked by, Pulitzer cast his gaze over to Katherine and looked her up and down in the same disgust she had seen when he kicked her out. Fueled by a sudden surge of anger, she grabbed Sarah by the collar of her jacket and pressed her lips firmly to her girlfriend’s lips. Half of the crowd kept booing at Pulitzer, while the other half cheered upon seeing Sarah and Katherine.

                “Damn, babe. What happened to you?” Sarah teased when Katherine released her.

                “I lost my ability to give a shit about what he thinks. Just wait until you see what I’m doing for the talent show.” Katherine smirked.

                “That’s my girl,” Sarah smirked back and hugged Katherine closer.

 

***

 

**~Monday, 7 th Period~**

“Let’s get this straight-” Before Jack could finish his statement, various sounds of snickering went through the small crowd in the auditorium. “Oh, hardy, har, har. Let’s get this gay, I guess. Miss Hannah, you’re the new principal.”

                “Yes.” Hannah smiled and nodded. Murmurs went through the crowd, including a slightly louder one that sounded like, “thank god.”

                “Ma, you’re the new assistant principal, but you’re still the drama teacher.”

                “Mhmm.”

                “Dr. Samuels, you’re the new nurse.”

                “Yes, I am.” Specs’ grandfather nodded.

                “Miss Hannah, who’s taking over your old secretary job?”

                “Well, I was thinking about asking a certain senior if she wanted to take it as a starting job.” Hannah raised an eyebrow at Sarah.

                “M-Me?” Sarah had managed to sneak into the auditorium with them.

                “Yes, you. I know you’re in boarding school right now and you’ll have to go back at the end of next week, but the job will definitely be open when you graduate. It isn’t exactly a dream, but it’s just something to start you off.”

                “Oh my god, you’re a blessing, Miss Hannah. I stan a lesbian queen.” Sarah dramatically “bowed down” to Hannah.

                The entire room went quiet, except for the sounds of a few people trying to stifle their laughter. “Sarah? What you just said? Don’t say it again. Every cell in my body cringed.” Spot complained.

                Sarah simply stuck her tongue out at him in response.

                “Miss Hannah, I’m really happy Pulitzer’s gone, but what about the talent show?” Race questioned.

                “I have decided to fully fund the GSA. I know you all have been hard at work practicing for the talent show, so I’m not going to take that away from you. What you do with the money earned from the event is your choice, however.” As soon as she finished speaking, the bell rang. “Well, you all better get going. You have a very important event to prepare for.”

                Various exclamations of “thank you” echoed throughout the auditorium as everyone started getting their things together and leaving. A few students, however, simply migrated to the front row of the auditorium. These students were Buttons, Tommy Boy, and Specs.

                “Would you like to join me in my office?” Medda whispered to Hannah.

                “Sure,” Hannah whispered back, smiling.

 

***

 

**~Monday, about an hour later~**

                “Alright, thank you, everyone. We’ll make our decisions tonight, then let everyone know tomorrow. Good luck and have a nice-”

                “Wait!” Buttons was cut off by someone sprinting into the auditorium and nearly tripping up the stairs to the stage.

                “…Spot?” Specs questioned.

                “I’m not too late, am I?” He asked as he caught his breath.

                “I…well, I guess not.” Buttons shrugged.

                “No offense, Spot, but I thought you said-” Tommy Boy started.

                “Yeah, I lied.”

                “Well, uh, do you have music?” Specs asked.

                “Yeah.” Spot pointed up to the sound booth. Race had snuck up there and was ready to play the music whenever Spot was ready.

                “Alright, then go ahead.” Buttons settled into her seat and prepared her clipboard to take notes.

                Spot took a few steps backward, then took his shirt off, leaving him in a pair of black shorts. Race whistled through the microphone in the sound booth. Spot winked up at him, then gave him the signal to start the music. The dance only lasted a good fifty seconds, but the three in the front row were left dumbfounded.

                “I also know a bit of the opening number from _A Chorus Line_ , if you want to see that.” Spot offered.

                “Yeah. Yeah, do that.” Buttons’ hand was flying across her paper as she wrote notes.

                This time it was only thirty seconds, but they were still shocked.

                “I’m sorry, who the fuck are you?” Hot Shot questioned from the side, obviously joking.

                Spot laughed. “Shut up. I’m not that good.”

                “You’re pretty good, Spot. I honestly never would’ve expected that. I might have expected it from your boyfriend but from you?” Tommy Boy shook his head.

                Spot rolled his eyes. “Am I good now? Can I leave?”

                “Yeah, you’re good. See you tomorrow, Spot.” Buttons continued writing down notes.

                Spot left the auditorium as quickly as he came in, but stopped and waited for Race outside.

                “How did I do?” He asked as soon as Race came out of the door.

                “You did _amazing_ , babe.” Race leaned forward and gave Spot a short, sweet kiss, then pulled away. “You know, my dad is off on another business trip. We could go up to my room and you could show me a little more of that first number.”

                “Mmm. I’d love to.”

 

***

 

**~Tuesday~**

                Mush had gotten into the little dance group, so they were at practice, which meant that Kid Blink was left all on his lonesome. He didn’t like being alone, so he decided to go over to Finch’s house. He thoroughly enjoyed going to Finch’s house. It was very…eccentric. The entire house always smelled of coffee, there were bean bags in the living room instead of chairs and couches, and various instruments were always scattered about the house.

                Blink nearly fell out of his skin when he turned around and was met with a recorder to the face. “Ow! Shit! It’s me, it’s me!”

                “You fucker! Don’t you know how to knock?” Finch tossed the recorder to the side and grabbed Blink by the chin to make sure they didn’t actually hurt him.

                “My good eye is going to swell shut and when people ask me what happened I get to tell them I was attacked by a crazy bird wielding a plastic woodwind.” He pulled away from Finch and went to make himself a cup of coffee. “Is this good?” He held up a small coffee pod.

                “I didn’t even hit you in the eye, you nitwit. And yeah, but I’d put some creamer in it.” Finch replied.

                “If it isn’t the one and only Kid Blink!” A voice called out from behind them.

                Blink whipped around. “Mr. Cortes! How’s the band going?”

                “Which one? He’s had about fifty since the last time you came over.” Finch teased.

                “Don’t listen to my son. He’s full of it. I’ve only had seven.” Blink noticed Finch wince out of the corner of his eye. “But, to answer your question, I can’t seem to keep these things together. Maybe I’m cursed to have terrible bandmates for the rest of my life. Maybe I’m the issue. Who knows? So, what are you boys planning on doing?”

                Blink noticed Finch wince again and he subconsciously stepped closer to them. “We’re just going to hang out.”

                “Alright. Well, I have to go handle some business at the shop, so I’ll be back in about an hour or two. You boys behave.”

                Finch winced yet again. You’d think their father would notice by now.

                “Have fun, Mr. Cortes.”

                “Ha, not likely.”

                “Bye, Dad.”

                When he heard the door lock, he immediately turned to Finch. “You haven’t told him yet?”

                “It isn’t that easy.” They sighed and got a mug out of the cabinet above their head.

                “He’s chill, right? I mean, he has to know about the protest.”

                “He’s chill about everything that _isn’t_ nonbinary. He doesn’t…get it, I guess. I mean, he tries, but he doesn’t get it and that makes it worse. Oh god, and it’s terrible when your partner is over here. We just kind of wallow in each other’s dysphoria and drown ourselves in coffee.” Once Blink’s cup was done, Finch set their mug under the machine and started making their own. “As you can see.” They added.

                “Have you tried discussing it with him? Like, not talking about yourself, but trying to explain it?” Blink took a sip of his coffee.

                “He watched an entire documentary about trans people, including nonbinary people, then recommended it to me. I thought he would’ve understood it from an entire ass documentary, but…I don’t know. I just don’t know.” Finch drug a hand over their face then grabbed their mug and led Blink to their bedroom. “Let’s do something else before I have a mental breakdown.”

                “Alright, uh, what are you doing for the talent show?” Blink carefully set his mug down on Finch’s nightstand.

                “Singing and playing the guitar. You?” Finch set their mug down beside Blink’s and plopped down on their bed.

                “Should’ve figured. I’m doing comedy.”

                “Should’ve figured.” Finch mocked him.

                “So, what’re you singing?” He finally sat down and lied across Finch’s legs.

                “’(On the) Dock of the Bay’ by Otis Redding.”

                “Never heard of it.”

                “It’s pretty good.”

                They both went silent after that and didn’t start up the conversation again until a few minutes later. Blink wasn’t really one for silence, but he was okay with _comfortable_ silence. He was okay with being so close to someone that moments of silence weren’t awkward. However, as I said, he wasn’t one for silence.

                “What if oxygen is a hallucinogen that keeps us blocked from seeing the real world and the reason we ‘need it to live’ is because dying is actually going back to the real world? What if the shadows in the corners of our vision and the invisible people calling our names are people in the real world trying to reach out to us? Or, what if people exist that can use one hundred percent of their brain and the government has put them into comas and what we experience is actually their overly creative minds doing their things? What if _I’m_ one of those people? What if _you’re_ one of those people? What if-”

                “Louis?”

                “Yeah, Pat?”

                “How much sleep did you get last night?”

                “Two.”

                “Two?”

                “Two sleep.”

                “Go to sleep, Lou.”

                “Can do.”

 

***

 

**~Wednesday~**

                Albert was off his game…big time. The band was supposed to be practicing for the talent show, but he couldn’t seem to get anything right. He was forgetting chords, zoning out, _and_ forgetting words. After the sixth time of starting over, Sniper had had enough.

                “Albert. What’s wrong?” She asked, trying not to sound annoyed.

                “It’s…it’s nothing, really.”

                “Al, you’re forgetting things. That isn’t like you.”

                “Come to think of it, you’ve been off all day. Are you alright?” Damiana took a sip from her water bottle.

                “I’m sorry. I know I’m messing things up. I can do it, Sniper, I promise.” Albert said quietly.

                Sniper narrowed her eyes in suspicion. “…Alright. Let’s take it from the top.”

                They all started playing from the beginning. Halfway through, Albert messed up again.

                “Albert.” Sniper sighed.

                “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” Albert closed his eyes and his grip on his guitar visibly tightened.

                “How about we take a break, alright?”

                “No! Oh god, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have yelled. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

                Race finally decided to stand up and walk over to Albert. He laid a gentle hand over one of Albert’s. Albert flinched at first, but eased into the touch and opened his eyes.

                “Can you tell me what’s going on, Al?” He asked, his voice soft.

                “My dad…he got out today.” Albert’s voice came out as a broken whisper. “I’ve been on edge all day. My older brother has legal custody of me and my other brother, but I’m so scared of going home and seeing _him_ there.”

                “Oh, Albert.” Race opened his arms and Albert crashed into him. He was always told not to cry, but he couldn’t hold back the burning tears that rushed out of his eyes and onto Race’s bare shoulder.

                Sniper and Damiana definitely didn’t understand what was going on, but they weren’t just going to stand there. They put their instruments down and joined in to make it a group hug.

 

***

 

**~Thursday~**

The day before the talent show, the group decided to have a get-together at Specs’ house. His grandfather had decided to go to some event out of town, so they were all alone…which wasn’t a good thing. David was just about ready to rip his hair out from trying to keep up with everyone and Jack wasn’t making it any better.

                “Davey, come on! Have some fun, why don’t you?” Jack threw his arms around David’s abdomen and swayed back and forth behind him.

                “It’s hard to have fun when I constantly have to make sure you people don’t get yourselves hurt.” David took an aggressive swig of a diet coke.

                “ _Babe_. We aren’t going to get hurt.” Jack protested.

                “JoJo legitimately got so high he thought he was going up the stairs when he was actually going down. He, once again, sprained his ankle.” David huffed and turned around to face Jack.

                “Alright, alright. Fair enough. How about we gather everyone and play a little game?”

                “If it’s Seven Minutes in Heaven, don’t even think about it.”

                “Ooo, who infected your mind with that little game, Dave?” Jack smirked as he led David to the living room.

                “Fanfic,” David replied, his tone full of regret.

                Jack simply chuckled in response, then called everyone into the living room. “Alright, everyone. How about we play a little sharing game?” Everyone in the room raised their eyebrows and looked at each other. “Let’s go around the circle and explain all of our nicknames. You don’t have to if you don’t want to, but I think it’d be fun. Some of us know the stories behind the nicknames, but some of us don’t. Here, I’ll go first. My hardly-used nickname is Cowboy. It comes from my interest in cowboys, the West, etc.”

                “Interest? More like obsession.” Romeo snickered.

                “Oh, yeah, yeah. Your turn, Ro.” Jack lightly punched Romeo in the arm.

                “Alright. My nickname is Romeo. It comes from my serious obsession- at least I admit it, Cowboy- with Shakespeare. Plus, I like to flirt.” He stood up from his spot on the couch and went over to Specs, then sat down in his lap.

                “Mine’s kind of obvious.” Specs pointed to his glasses.

                “Same.” Crutchie wiggled his new crutches around.

                Race suddenly stood up in the recliner, nearly making it tip over. Luckily, Spot was there to make sure it didn’t. “Everyone’s favorite bitch is named Racetrack because I’m the fastest fucker in the school. Double meaning there.” Race laughed, then flopped back down across Spot’s entire body.

                Spot sighed and rolled his eyes. “My nickname is Spot because I have freckles. Your turn, asshat.” He pointed at Hot Shot.

                “My nickname is Hot Shot because I was really good at basketball when I was younger. If anyone asks me to show them tricks, I’m leaving.” They muttered the last statement under their breath.

                “Ah, calm down, Hoops.” Albert chuckled.

                “I’m going to skin you alive.”

                “My nicknames are Al, Albie, and Red. The first two are based off of my name, and, well, the third is pretty damn obvious.” Albert ignored them. “I pass the torch to you, the love of my life.”

                Elmer smiled and giggled. “Alright. My nicknames are El, Elm, and Sunny. Like the love of my life, the first two are based off of my name, and the third one is based off of my wonderful personality.”

                They all kept going around the circle. Most of the explanations were basic and repetitive (JoJo’s, Tommy Boy’s, Mike’s, and Ike’s nicknames were all based off of their names. Henry didn’t have a nickname. Smalls was tiny. Kid Blink only had one eye. Mush couldn’t pronounce their name correctly. Buttons liked buttons.), but two of them got interesting.

                “My nickname actually connects to Sniper’s, so I’ll let her go first.” Finch nodded at Sniper.

                “I have awesome aim with just about anything and everything.” Sniper then turned back to Finch.

                “Okay, so, when we were little, Sniper shot at a bird with my slingshot and killed it. I got upset and buried it.” Finch explained.

                Crutchie nearly inhaled his blunt due to how hard he was laughing. “Buried it? Finch, you gave it an entire funeral. You even _built_ an entire coffin. Literally. You painted it and everything. Not to mention the headstone you-”

                “ _Okay_. We get it, Crutch. I like birds.”

                A few hours later, nearly everyone had fallen asleep in Specs’ living room. Nearly. David was the only one still awake. He was determined to stay up all night just to make sure nothing went wrong, but it was starting to get very difficult. God, what time was it? David could see the sun starting to rise. He would’ve grabbed his phone to check the time, but it was conveniently trapped underneath Jack’s body. He tried to look at the large grandfather clock in the corner, but his tired eyes wouldn’t clear up. They hadn’t been awake yet. Maybe he could get an hour or two. He tossed the idea back and forth in his head, then made the final decision. He melted back into Jack’s hold and let his eyes-

                “Hold the _fuck_ up!” Elmer shot up out of Albert’s arms and nearly made everyone else jump through the roof.

                “Why the actual ever-living fuck _did you do that_!?” Smalls shouted.

                “How many acts do we have?”

                “Acts?” Buttons yawned.

                “For the talent show! How many acts?”

                Jack thought for a few seconds. “…Nine? Yeah, nine.”

                “How long is each act?”

                “Elmer, it’s go-back-to-sleep-o’clock. Why are we worrying about this?”

                “How. Long. Is. Each. Act?”

                Everyone glanced at each other with confused expressions. If Elmer was acting like this, it was serious.

                “Ours is about four minutes,” David answered.

                “Five and a half.”

                “Three.”

                “Seven.”

                “Four.”

                “Three.”

                “Three.”

                “Three.”

                Elmer froze in concentration for a few moments, then started pacing. “Oh god.” She whispered to herself repeatedly.

                “Baby, hey. What’s going on?” Albert asked, his voice raspy.

                “That’s only about thirty-four and a half minutes.”

                The others didn’t seem to grasp the importance. Except for David.

                “That’s concerning.” He started biting his lip in thought.

                “Ha! You think?”

                “Can you smarties enlighten the rest of us?” Spot questioned.

                “Thirty-four and a half minutes. Would you guys go and pay to watch something that short?” David raised an eyebrow.

                “Oh, that is concerning,” Katherine muttered.

                “And no one else wanted to join?” Ike asked.

                Jack shook his head.

                “What are we going to do about this?” David turned to his boyfriend.

                “…What if we all do more than one act?” Jack suggested.

                “Won’t that be a bit stressful? And hard to remember? I mean, I’m sure _I_ could pull it off, but still.” Buttons responded.

                “Buttons, wait. Jack might be onto something. We could add an intro. Maybe something where every act can participate, you know?” JoJo shrugged.

                “ _Wait_! What about that _and_ a speech. Not a long one, but one that talks about the journey of the club and the struggles we’ve faced. Oh my god! The intro could be ‘Seasons of Love’ from _Rent_! Imagine: Jack and Davey center stage. They give the speech. The audience cheers. The curtain opens. All of us are standing there side by side. Jack and Davey back up into their places in the line. The music starts. How about it? Good plan or what?” Katherine smiled, obviously proud of her plan.

                “You know…that just might work,” David replied.


	16. The Grand Finale

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The newsies have their talent show.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warnings: Swearing (just a bit), mention of violence.

                “Oh my god, you guys. Have you seen the amount of people out there?” JoJo stared out with wide eyes at the audience from behind the curtain. He nervously adjusted the vest he was wearing and turned back to the group. (He and Crutchie decided to match outfits. Crutchie was wearing a white dress shirt, white pants, and a dark blue vest, while JoJo was wearing a dark blue dress shirt, dark blue pants, and a white vest.)

                “Eh. It’s not _that_ many, hon.” Buttons walked over and peered out, then wrapped an arm around JoJo’s shoulders.

                “I’m not used to this. That’s a lot of people for me. Jorgelino Josephino De La Guerra has _never_ been on a stage.”

                “You’re going to be fine. I was scared the first time, too. Hey, how about we go over there and do some breathing exercises to help calm you down?” Buttons smiled and held out his hand, which JoJo reluctantly took. On the way to the room Buttons was leading him to, they grabbed Tommy Boy as well.

                “Have you ever been on stage, Davey?” Jack questioned. He was behind David with his arms around his waist, which was his favorite position to be in.

                “Not since I was a kid. Would you believe I played Red Riding Hood’s mother in a play?” David responded, leaning into Jack’s touch.

                “No way.”

                “Yes, way. We all joked about it because the girl who played the grandmother was younger than me and I was younger than the girl who played Red. And then I played a fox in the second act. I didn’t exactly grasp the concept of acting, so I got put in the background roles until people started dropping out. That’s how I got Mrs. Hood.”

                “Did it bother you? To be cast as a female character, I mean.”

                “Nah. It was before I realized I wasn’t a girl, so I didn’t really have an issue.”

                “What about now, looking back on it?”

                “It was just a role. Men play female characters all the time, women play male characters all the time, and non-conforming people play male and female characters all the time. It doesn’t mean anything. Which, I know some people may be uncomfortable with playing specific genders, but that’s just how I feel.”

                “Holy shit. You sound just like my mother. Oh, well, speak of the devil.”

                Medda came in holding a huge box of microphones. “Alright, everyone. These should all be in working order. I’ll be back after the opening to make sure the lavalier mics are working. I’m so proud of all of you. Good luck.” She gave everyone a smile, then hurried offstage. She was quickly replaced by Les and Sarah tripping over each other trying to get backstage.

                “Guys!” Les shouted.

                “You will never believe-” Les reached up and clamped his hand over Sarah’s mouth.

                “-Who just-” Sarah did the same to Les, then moved his hand away.

                “-Showed up!”

                David raised an eyebrow.

                “Pulitzer!” Les and Sarah exclaimed at the same time.

                “What?” Romeo questioned, his eyes widened.

                “In handcuffs, with _two_ police escorts. Not one, but two.” Les further explained.

                “Are we legally allowed to kick him out?” Mush threw the question out there.

                “No, hold on. Leave him.” Katherine replied.

                “Kath-“

                “He should see how badly he lost.”

                “…Okay, fair enough. The important question, though, is _why_ he’s here.”

                They didn’t have time to ponder that question. Hannah’s voice came out over the speakers. She gave a short speech, then introduced David and Jack to the stage. The boys looked at each other, then stepped out from behind the curtain and stood downstage center. The bright spotlight immediately blinded them, but Jack was used to it and it didn’t bother David.

                “Hi, I’m David Jacobs.”

                “And I’m Jack Kelly.”

                “Most of you know the purpose of this event, but we’ll highlight it for those of you who don’t know.”

                “It started about two weeks ago when we decided that we wanted a GSA. A Gender and Sexuality Alliance club.”

                “Clubs like these give students a place to belong and to be loved, especially when they don’t have that at home.” David found Pulitzer in the crowd and gave him a long cold stare.

                “To make a long story short, we weren’t allowed to have the club, so we rebelled. We protested. We got hurt, abused, disowned, and assaulted. But, we never gave up and that finally paid off. We won.”

                The audience erupted in applause.

                “However, some of us all around the world are still fighting similar battles. Therefore, since our club is now fully funded by the school, all money paid for admission will be donated to LGBTQ+ nonprofits.”

                The audience applauded again.

                “Now, before we start, we wanted to thank some of you. The Universe for bringing this cutie into my life.” Jack laced his and David’s fingers together and smiled at the other boy.

                A light blush dusted across David’s face as he smiled back at Jack. He looked back out at the audience and continued. “Ms. Hannah, our new principal, for being open-minded and helping to create a safe space for the students of this school.”

                “The rest of our lovely newspaper club for sticking with the revolution the entire time, no matter how hard it got.”

                “Miss Medda for helping us since the very beginning, helping us fight, and being an amazing mother to my boyfriend and one of my best friends.”

                “Echo Hunt for being an all-around awesome guy and going to hell and back for this cause.” Cue a loud “whoo!” from Echo somewhere in the audience.

                “Mrs. Gontier, our OCS teacher, for helping with the revolution, along with her granddaughter.”

                “The Jacobs Family for fully supporting us when the cause was nothing but a bunch of kids on a mission. Mr. and Mrs. Jacobs for letting me date your extraordinary son, Les for kick-starting our first protest, and Sarah for writing your letters.”

                “Our neighboring boroughs and cities for joining the revolution and helping out however you could.”

                “Dr. Samuels for helping with one of the tragedies of our revolution.”

                “All other participants of the revolution not previously mentioned.”

                “And, last but not least, all of you in the audience.”

                The entire building went dark and the audience erupted in cheers. When the lights came back on, they were in the form of spotlights shining down on small groups of all of the talent show participants. There were too many of them to have one spotlight each, so they had to make it work.

_“525,600 minutes._  
 _525,000 moments so dear._  
 _525,600 minutes._  
 _How do you measure, measure a year?_  
  
_In daylights, in sunsets, in midnights, in cups of coffee._  
 _In inches, in miles, in laughter, in strife._  
 _In 525,600 minutes._  
 _How do you measure a year in the life?_  
  
_How about love?_  
 _How about love?_  
 _How about love?_  
 _Measure in love._  
 _Seasons of love._  
 _Seasons of love._  
  
_525,600 minutes._  
 _525,000 journeys to plan._  
 _525,600 minutes._  
 _How do you measure the life of a woman or man?_  
  
_In truths that she learned, or in times that he cried._  
 _In bridges he burned, or the way that she died._  
  
_It's time now to sing out._  
 _Though the story never ends._  
 _Let's celebrate, remember a year._  
 _In the life of friends._  
  
_Remember the love._  
 _You got to, you got to remember the love._  
 _Remember the love._  
 _You know that love is a gift from up above._  
 _Remember the love._  
 _Share love, give love, spread love._  
 _Measure in love._  
 _Seasons of love._  
 _Seasons of love._  
 _Measure, measure your life in love.”_

 

                The stage went dark again and when the lights came back, only Medda was onstage. “We’re going to kick off our night with Mike and Ike Guzman performing an acrobatics routine, followed by Kid Blink Baletti doing stand-up comedy.”

*** 

 

                At the end of the night, it was finally time for Jack and David to go on.  Everything had gone smoothly. [JoJo and Crutchie](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQE2ycuoyM0) went on after Blink. JoJo was still a bit nervous, but he pulled it together the second he stepped onto the stage. Sniper and her band performed [“True Trans Soul Rebel” by Against Me!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeY2hPO7BlM) and Albert was doing much better than he was a few days before. The dancers, which included Romeo, Henry, Specs, Mush, Tommy Boy, Buttons, Spot, Hot Shot, and other students, performed [“You Can’t Stop the Beat” from _Hairspray_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmvnWeoym-k). It was truly extravagant. Buttons did an amazing job on the costumes, which were colorful suits and dresses. Everyone was fascinated by Hot Shot’s dancing ability, but nothing beat watching Spot Conlon dance and sing his heart out. Elmer did a solo performance of [“I Can Do That” from _A Chorus Line_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SszvCxy8D_s)and lit up the stage with their adorable smile. [Katherine and Smalls](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhqH-r7Xj0E) did their duet and Katherine spent half of her time smiling at Sarah and the other half staring a hole in Pulitzer’s face. Finch had to retune their guitar, which took a few minutes, but they kept cracking jokes in order to make it less awkward. Afterward, [their performance](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jdva8EPF3RU) went without fault.

                (“Like a true bird.” Blink, referring to the whistling in the song, patted them on the back once they got offstage.

                “Shut the fuck up,” Finch responded.)

                [As they performed](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5QzvzQ7Ad0), David found himself being distracted by his boyfriend. The way the light looked against his skin, the way he held his microphone, the way he closed his eyes when singing certain notes, the way he smiled as he sang, the wink he gave David when he caught him looking. It all reminded David of why he had fallen in love with him.

                Meanwhile, Jack was distracted by David. The way he played the piano, the way he licked his lips before he sang, the way he bounced around, the way he accidentally moved the microphone around from his movements, the way he took quick glances toward the audience, the way he effortlessly flipped the pages, sang, played the piano, and stared at Jack. It all reminded Jack of why he had fallen in love with him.

 

*** 

 

                After their performance, everyone got back on stage. They were lined up in a single file line across the lip of the stage. They all looked around at each other, then joined hands and bowed. They came back up, then did it again. It was nice to hear all of the applause. David hadn’t heard anything like it since the last time he was on stage.

                But there was something different about this. Sure, he was close to his cast members of the plays he was in, but he had gone to hell and back with these people. They were his family. David looked to his left and saw Jack, his boyfriend. He looked to his right and saw Tommy Boy, one of his new best friends. This is what he needed and wanted. A boyfriend who wouldn’t dare make him uncomfortable. Best friends who understood what he was going through. About two weeks ago, he was dreading going to public school, but now…

                “ _Public school isn’t really that bad._ ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my god, you guys. It's over. If I'm being honest, I've never actually been sad when I finish writing something. (Not that I don't like writing, I'm just never sad when I finish it.) I loved writing this, and I loved all of the feedback and talking to you guys.
> 
> However, this isn't the absolute end. I'm already having ideas for more stories in this universe. Not a sequel, but maybe shorter stories that take place in this universe. Backstories, cute little fluffy things, possibly some angst. I hope you guys will stick around! (The idea that's sticking out right now is a flashback to Spot and Race getting together, so we'll see!)
> 
> Thank you guys so much for reading this mess of a fanfic. It started out as just this short modern era story where Jack and David meet in the forest, but now it's so much more than that. Thank you.


	17. NEW STORY

ALRIGHT Y'ALL I'VE BEEN CONSIDERING THIS FOR A WHILE NOW AND I'VE DECIDED TO MILK THIS SERIES UNTIL NO ONE CARES ANYMORE

 

 

SHORT STORIES BASED OFF OF THE FIC RIGHT HERE: [Stories of Portum High School](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16665598)

 

I'M ACCEPTING REQUESTS


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